Dogs and Leeches
by ReaderRabid
Summary: A mostly humorous take on Bella's difficult choice between Jacob and Edward.  AU at the end of New Moon, no Eclipse.  Emmett helps Bella find pets!  Bella's Change is another oddity  what are her powers?  Who will she choose  Edward, Jake, or ?
1. The Great Renaming

**Chapter 1: The Great Renaming**

**A/N**: This is a story inspired by the many (wonderful) stories about Bella being torn between Edward and Jacob, as well as some others. Please remember that this is listed as **humor**/romance, and everything is meant in good fun!

This story takes place as an alternate course of events at the end of New Moon, and completely ignoring Eclipse. The characters might be a bit OOC, but since it's an alternate universe, so please allow me a bit of poetic license.

**Disclaimer:** _ I don't own Twilight, New Moon, or Eclipse. I just like having fun with the characters and world the wonderful Stephenie Meyer created._

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I'm home from Italy, and life is settling into a pattern:

• Edward is trying to make up for all the torment I went through when he was gone.

• Jacob is tormented by how happy I am that Edward is back.

• I am tormented by being forced to choose between them.

Being caught between them isn't any fun. After what I went through while Edward was gone, I deserve some fun.

Edward had to go hunt for a couple days, but I had Emmett to "keep me company", aka "keep me out of trouble." But maybe he will help me have some fun! Emmett is great for that!

I woke up later than usual on Saturday and found a note on the breakfast table:

_"Bella,_

_I got called in to work, but didn't want to wake you. You got a message from Jacob - he wants you to call him once you're awake. Edward's brother Emmett called too, and invited you to come over once you woke up. I'll see you tonight._

_Love, Dad"_

I'm going to try not to read anything into the order of these messages. I pick up the phone to call Jake. "Hi Billy, is Jake there?"

"Bella! It's great to hear your voice! Jake's been waiting for you, he's right here."

"Thanks, Billy!"

"Hey, Bells! You finally wake up?" His voice even **sounds** warm.

"Yeah. I just needed a day to sleep in." I smile into the phone. He's such a good friend.

"So, now that the _bloodsuckers _ are back for god, are you going to ignore me?"

I grimaced. "Of course I'm not going to ignore you, it's just complicated. The Cullens are my friends. If you want to stay friends with me, you'll need to call them by name."

"Uhhhhh..." Jake hesitates for what seems like a long moment. "How about _mosquitoes_? Would that work?"

I burst into laughter. "I meant their given names, but I can settle for that."

Jake's laughter joins mine, and his smile travels through the phone line. "OK, _mosquitoes_ it is! I'm just glad you're home safe. I'd do anything to keep you happy and safe, Bella."

"I know, Jake. I know. You took such good care of me while they were gone, I could never repay that debt! I know I was out of it, I'm so glad I have you for a friend."

"I want to see you today, Bella." His voice sounds husky.

"I have plans with a _mosquito_ this morning. Maybe you and Billy could come to dinner? I don't want to throw you a bone, but ..." I giggled. "You're much more appreciative of my cooking than they are!"

I got a belly laugh out of Jake. "OK, dinner it is. I'll see you around six."

I felt more settled after talking to Jake. I made a quick list of what I need to make a big mexican casserole, as Jake eats enough for 4 people, plus the regular fridge fillers that are somehow always missing. I'll go by the grocery store after I go see one of my favorite mosquitos.

Right as I was ready to go see Emmett, I hear a loud knock on the door. When I don't get to the door quickly enough for his tastes, I hear "Bellaaaa!" Emmett bellows, in true _Streetcar Named Desire _fashion. I get a huge hug after he almost knocks me down when I open the door.

"Can't. Breathe. Emmett!" I managed to choke out.

Emmett let me go, but only long enough to throw me over his shoulder as he "walked" to his Jeep. Once I was securely buckled, he turned to me. "What do you want to do?"

"Ummmmm, gosh Emmett, I have no idea. What do **you** want to do? I'm game for whatever you are ." I couldn't think of anything that would be fun for both of us on a chilly, _(thankfully)_ cloudy Saturday in early April.

"Really? You'll do that?" Emmett's eyes were shining. I couldn't tell if that was mischief or happiness ...

"Well, as long as I don't end up broken!" I laughed.

"Dang, Bella! That means I have to cross off almost everything on my list of ideas!" I giggled, but Emmett was frustrated for a minute, then looked like he had an epiphany. "I know! Let's go to the animal shelter!"

My mind boggled. I had no idea why Emmett wanted to go to the animal shelter. It didn't sound like a great idea for someone who liked to drink the blood of animals. But whatever he wanted was fine with me. "Uh, OK. Is that something you do a lot?"

Emmett shook his head. "Nope, they don't usually let me go."

We pulled up outside the local shelter, and Emmett bounced out. I scrambled to keep up with him, but he held the glass door open for me like a gentleman. Right as I was thinking that, he tripped me with his foot as I walked past him. Thank goodness for vampire speed! Emmett caught me before I crashed through the second set of glass doors!

"Oops. Sorry! I didn't mean to trip you that much."

"Since you caught me, I think we're even." We grinned at each other.

"Good morning!" greeted the young woman at the reception desk. "Did you want to take a look at the cats or the dogs?"

"The dogs, please." Emmett replied, a smirk creeping into his face.

"Right this way!" We were led to the dog kennels, and walked in. There was a cacophony of noise - barking, whining, howling - as soon as we entered. Once the door shut behind us, Emmett looked at the dogs, and they all grew quiet.

"Hey, how do you do that?" I asked, startled.

He shrugged, "I dunno. I guess it's part of the whole _dazzling_ thing. It makes it a lot easier to be here, doesn't it?"

"Oh, yeah! That's a skill I want to have!" We walked through the kennels, and each dog would come towards us, sniffing at us. I had never had a dog - taking care of myself and Renée had always been enough work! - but I was fascinated with the different types of dogs.

At the far end of the kennels was a gorgeous dog. She was medium-sized, and barrel-chested. Her fur was a mix of white, tan, and grey-black that looked like a grey-blue in the light. Her ears stood straight up, turning towards the sound of my footsteps. When I stood in front of her kennel, she put her nose to the mesh, trying to sniff me. I held out my hand, and she licked it!

"Awwww!" came from Emmett. "You really have a way with dogs!"

I goggled at him for a moment, then we both started laughing, hard. I thought the pretty blue dog would get upset at the sudden sound, and several others started barking, but she just looked at us, and tried to lick my fingers again.

"Emmett, I **need** to take her for a walk!" I pleaded. He shook his head, but turned to go get one of the shelter volunteers. I looked at the notes on the cage for the first time:

_Mystic Blue_

_Australian Cattle Dog/Blue Heeler_

_1 year old, female, spayed. Housebroken._

**Well**, I thought. Hmmmm... Charlie had never **forbidden** me from owning a pet. It had just never come up - I had always been too busy with Edward or too busy with Jake to think about it.

Emmett came back, and we chatted with the volunteer as I put Mystic on a leash.

"These dogs are very sturdy," the worker said. "They rarely show pain, are long-lived, and are great at herding anything from cattle to kids!" She looked us over, and then said, "We don't recommend them for houses with babies, though."

Emmett straightened himself up. "No ma'am! I think you misunderstand - this is my little sister! We don't have any little ones at our house, and there aren't any plans for any, either."

The woman blushed. "I'm sorry about the misunderstanding. We do get a lot of young couples looking for dogs."

"May we take her for a walk around the block?" I asked.

The woman looked doubtful, but Emmett _dazzled_ her, and said, "I'll leave you the keys to my Jeep - then you know we'll come back with her!"

"That will be fine ... " the woman said, and then drifted off as another couple walked through the kennel door.

Emmett and I walked Mystic around the block. As we were walking, I told him about my conversation with Jacob. At first he growled, but then he laughed at the nickname "mosquitoes". "They couldn't pierce our skin!" And we're much bigger and badder than a mosquito!"

"I know, that's why it's so funny! We need to come up with a better name to call the werewolves, too. After meeting this pup, _dog_ seems inappropriate."

"You have a point." agreed Emmett. We both kept walking, thinking. And then he burst out laughing. "I've got it! I've got it!"

His laughter was infectious, so I was already giggling. "Tell me, tell me!"

"Chihuahuas!" howled Emmett. "Chihuahuas!"

"Yes, yes! Chihuahuas!" I agreed, now laughing hysterically.

After a few minutes, Mystic barked - just one, short bark. She didn't like being ignored while we howled with laughter.

I tried to catch my breath, and we turned around to walk back to the shelter.


	2. Pets

**Chapter 2 - Pets**

**A/N**: This is a story inspired by the many (wonderful) stories about Bella being torn between Edward and Jacob, as well as some others. Please remember that this is listed as **humor**/romance, and everything is meant in good fun!

This story takes place as an alternate course of events at the end of New Moon, and completely ignoring Eclipse. The characters might be a bit OOC, but since it's an alternate universe, so please allow me a bit of poetic license.

**Disclaimer:** _ I don't own Twilight, New Moon, or Eclipse. I just like having fun with the characters and world the wonderful Stephenie Meyer created._

_-------------_

I could tell that Emmett had _dazzled_ the shelter workers, but I didn't care. We brought Mystic out to his precious Jeep, and he didn't mind her sitting on the back seat, even if it was getting covered in dog hair! For once, I didn't begrudge the Cullens' money - I wanted my pup, and a sizable donation helped me take her home right away.

Emmett started whistling as we drove off, only stopping when a smile broke out across his face. It seemed like he had some secret joke inside him. I didn't care - Mystic had put her head on the console between the seats, and was licking my hand.

"Let me run in and grab a leash, then we'll bring her in! I've **never** gotten to shop with a dog!" Emmett enthused, jumping out of the Jeep at a nearby PetsMart. He came back with one of those cool retractible leashes and a regular leash - both in blue, of course.

"I got her a blue collar, too!" he smiled. "Since Edward likes you so much in blue, he won't be able to resist her, either. Hey - remember that she **is** blue? That's why she's perfect for you!" The grin broke out across his face again.

I grinned back. "That must be it! I was thinking there was some special connection, but you're probably right - it's just an affinity for blue." I giggled.

We walked through the store, grabbing some tennis balls, frisbees, tug-ropes, plus the less-fun, necessary things like food, dishes, dog treats, and a pooper-scooper. Finally, Emmett found a blue dog bed and a blue dog crate, and we were set.

I have to say that shopping for a dog with Emmett was infinitely more fun than shopping for clothes. He had me laughing a lot, and I needed some good laughs. That's probably why Edward had asked him to spend time with me.

As we were walking to the checkout counter, Emmett poked me. "OW!"

"Sorry!" Emmett had the good grace to look sheepish. "But shhhh ... look over there!"

I followed where he was surreptitiously pointing, and saw a short, thin man and his chihuahua dressed in identical jackets. "Oh my gosh!" I gasped, and then we both started laughing far too hard. Emmett was even hooting at one point.

Mystic barked at us, and I tried to control myself. But then I'd glimpse the man again, and it would set off more gales of laughter. Finally, we both managed to get ourselves calmed down enough to actually check out. If we hadn't been spending so much money, it's likely that they would have kicked us out after that scene!

The back of the Jeep looked a bit overloaded - it felt like we had bought the whole store! Before I could get buckled, though, Emmett jumped back out of the car. "One last thing I forgot!" he yelled, and ran back in.

A few minutes later he came back out with a box. He put it gently in the back of the Jeep, and then we drove back to my house.

---------------

It didn't take very long to get Mystic settled - she liked the yard. I put her food and dishes in the kitchen, and her crate in the rarely-used dining room. I brought her bed upstairs, but she seemed much more interested in snuggling up at the foot of my bed.

"Emmett, what was it you ran back in for? I didn't think there was anything we could have forgotten." I looked at him, baffled - I hadn't seen anything new when we were unpacking Mystic's stuff.

His eyes sparkled, "Just you wait! It's **perfect**!" He ran out to the car, but walked back to the house. He came into the room, and carefully set the box on one of my book shelves - several shelves higher than where Mystic could reach.

"I need to get it ready. Why don't you go give Mystic one of the dog treats?"

"OK" I was still baffled, but I walked downstairs. Mystic sat prettily for her dog treat. I bumped into a chair getting her second treat, and it flew out of my hand. I caught myself on the chair, and she caught the treat in her mouth! "Emmett, are you ready? This dog is great - she can even catch a flying dog treat!"

"One more minute! Why were you throwing a dog treat in the house, though?" came from upstairs.

"Er, well, I wasn't. I tripped, and ... "

"You're OK, right?" Emmett asked, anxiously.

"Yep, I caught myself."

"Thank goodness. I was told to return you undamaged! I don't want to fall down on the job!"

"Nope, falling down on the job is my job!" I laughed again, being around Emmett was good for me.

"OK, I'm ready for you!"

"Coming!" I started to run up the stairs, impatient, then thought better of it and walked, Mystic right on my heels.

Emmett stood in front of the bookshelf. He cleared his throat, as if he were about to make a speech. "As an emissary of the _mosquitoes_, I bought you a peace offering of a dog - to show that our kind bear no ill will toward dogs."

I nodded, my eyes widening as what he meant sunk in. "Ha, ha, ha. I hadn't thought of that. WAIT! Tell me you didn't buy me a pet leech!"

Emmett's big guffaw almost shook the house. "Nope," he pouted, "they don't sell leeches at PetsMart. But what I got you is infinitely cooler. Meet your second new pet of the day - Stripes!" He stepped aside, and I walked closer. It was a tarantula!

"WHAT?! What are you thinking?! How do I take care of **that**?"

"Bellaaaaaa," Emmett whined, "don't you get it? Vampires bought you a dog when our natural enemies are werewolves, related to dogs. Well, kinda. Anyhow, since they didn't have leeches, I got you the next best thing - a tarantula! It feeds on blood, too! But don't worry, I'll feed it for you. Unless Jake wants to. He might think it's funny."

"I'm not sure **I** think having a tarantula in my room is funny, Emmett! Is the cage secure?"

"Yes, yes, the cage is secure. It won't do anything to you. There aren't many pets you can buy that suck blood. The guy in the exotic section looked a bit put out by my request, until I told him that my sister had a thing for vampires ... "

I whacked him. Then shook my hand. "OW! That was supposed to hurt **you**! You're such a goofball!"

Emmett gave me a puppy-dog eye look. I could tell this was how he got his way with Rosalie when he was in trouble! "I'm a **lovable** goofball, right? Not one you want to get in lots of trouble. Right?"

I laughed. "Yes, you're lovable. I won't complain about you to Edward. Not as long as you or Jacob feeds the thing."

"Stripes. You'll hurt his feelings if you call him a thing!"

"OK, OK ... as long as someone other than me is in charge of feeding Stripes, I'm fine."

"Thank you!" Emmett bowed at me.

I looked at the clock - it was only about 2pm - we still had hours before I needed to make dinner. "Why don't we take Mystic over to your place? We can play fetch or frisbee with her!" I looked him over again. "But throw human-style, OK?"

"Sounds good! Let's go!"

I thought I heard him mumble something about "Edward's going to flip out having this smell in her room **and** at the house", but I must have been mistaken - he was back to whistling as we drove off towards the Cullens' property.


	3. A Great Leap

**Chapter 3: A Great Leap**

**A/N**: This is a story inspired by the many (wonderful) stories about Bella being torn between Edward and Jacob, as well as some others. Please remember that this is listed as **humor**/romance, and everything is meant in good fun!

This story takes place as an alternate course of events at the end of New Moon, and completely ignoring Eclipse. The characters might be a bit OOC, but since it's an alternate universe, so please allow me a bit of poetic license.

**Disclaimer:** _ I don't own Twilight, New Moon, or Eclipse. I just like having fun with the characters and world the wonderful Stephenie Meyer created._

_-------------_

Emmett tired Mystic out over the next couple hours. Apparently even dogs bred for herding cattle aren't designed to play fetch with vampires. I started to get chilly, too, so we bundled back in the Jeep so I could go shopping.

Emmett bravely volunteered to sit in the car with the sleeping dog while I bought groceries. Very selfless of him! I was pretty tired myself, but at least I had just been **watching** the game of fetch! I got the groceries as quickly as I could, and then we drove back to Charlie's house.

Emmett walked Mystic around the house a bit while I got dinner into the oven. He didn't like smelling the food being prepared, and she needed to be familiar with the yard and do her "business", so it was all good.

At about 5:30, Charlie came home. "Hi Bells! What's cooking?"

"It's Tamale Pie - Billy and Jake are coming for dinner, so I made a casserole."

"Smart. Jake really can pack it away. Growing boys, y'know!" Charlie smiled. I restrained myself from wincing - I knew that he was comparing Jake's voracious appetite to Edward's non-existant one.

"Good Evening, Chief Swan!" Emmett walked through the door with Mystic on the leash. It wasn't until that moment that I realized I hadn't asked my dad about getting a dog. Uh-oh.

"Hi. Emmett, right? Well, who have we here?" Charlie said, squatting down before Mystic.

"Her name is Mystic, sir. I took Bella to the animal shelter today, and they just bonded. I thought with all she's been through, a dog would be good - for protection and for attention." He winked at me.

I blinked rapidly. Hunh? Did he really have a plan other than annoying Edward by getting me a dog (which I also, only realized at that moment)? Or was he just play-acting? Well, I guess it didn't matter.

"Smart man!" Charlie said, petting Mystic, then standing up. "I'm sure you know that I have mixed feelings about your brother dating my daughter. But you and your sister Alice seem to be very thoughtful kids."

"Thank you, sir." Emmett grinned. No, he smirked. I knew that one was going to be repeated to Edward over and over and over. "We all care about Bella a great deal, and never want to see her hurt again."

Charlie grunted.

Emmett seemed to realize that he could and should escape at that point. He unbuckled Mystic's leash and hung it up, then scooped me into another bone-crushing hugs. He seemed to remember about me needing to breathe, though.

"Bye, Bella! I'm sure Edward will be over tomorrow morning. He'll be getting in from camping late tonight. I sure did have fun with you today!" Emmett waved, a smirk still on his face.

"Thanks for all your **help**, Emmett! I had fun too. I think I'm going to have one tired dog tonight after all those games of fetch!" I waved to him, grinning despite myself. He was far too much fun!

It wasn't long before Billy and Jake showed up. Mystic clearly wasn't meant to be a watch dog - she barked once, then laid her head back down on the couch. I introduced her to Jacob and Billy, and they petted her for a minute. I checked the casserole, and it still had a few minutes left to cook, so I told Jake I had something to show him upstairs.

"What's up?" Jake hadn't been in my room since I had gotten back from Italy, so there's no wonder he was curious.

"Emmett and I spent the day together. The others were off ... um ..."

"Being mosquitoes?" Jake laughed.

"Exactly!" my laughter joined his. I had forgotten how much fun he can be. "Now, you keep your sense of humor, OK?"

Jake nodded his assent.

"So I told Emmett about the switch from leech to mosquito, and he laughed - mosquitoes are just pests. So he decided that the wolf equivalent was a chihuahua!"

Thankfully, Jake's sense of humor was fully funtional that night, he started laughing hard. His laughter only got harder when I told him about the man and his matching dog at the pet store.

"Wait - this is Emmett we're talking about, so it gets even funnier!"

Jake shook his head at me, not believing that it **could** get funnier.

"Did you realize that **a vampire** bought me a **dog**?" At this, Jake was truly on the floor laughing, clutching his sides. "Never mind that, he got a gift from you, too."

"What? **He** bought you a gift from **me**? That doesn't make sense!" Jake's laughter died down a bit, and he looked confused.

"C'mere! You'll see what I mean." I led him over to my bookshelf. "Emmett was very disappointed to find out that you can't buy leeches as a pet. He said this was the next best thing."

"Coooool! A tarantula!"

"Yep, his name is Stripes. Emmett said you might want to feed it. Otherwise he agreed to do it. I said I'd only keep him if I didn't have to deal with that part."

"No, I'll do it. You're right - this is brilliant! Emmett sounds like the kind of guy I could hang out with. Y'know, except for the whole mortal enemies thing ... "

I grinned, but rolled my eyes. "Yeah, you'd be best buds when you weren't trying to kill eachother." The timer dinged. "Saved by the bell! It's probably good I made enough to serve an army. All this laughter must have built up your appetite!"

"Breathing builds up my appetite!" Jacob smiled again, and gave me a warm hug as I was walking past him to go downstairs. "I'm glad we can still be friends, even if we have to work at it."

"Me too, Jake. Me too." After that giant leap in werewolf-vampire relations, we sat down and enjoyed a nice, normal meal together.

When Jake and Billy left after dinner, I was worn out from the busy day. I walked Mystic around the house one more time, then brought her up to my room to go to sleep. I gave her a treat after she laid down in her bed, then I took a shower and changed into my pajamas. When I got out of the bathroom, she was sound asleep on **my** bed.

I sighed, and climbed in, enjoying her warm body at my feet. Feet can never be warm enough on a cool night! I slipped into sleep quickly, but startled awake in the middle of the night - Mystic had picked up her head and let out a low growl. I looked around and saw Edward stopped at the window.

"It's OK girl. He's OK." She put her head back down. He was at my side in a flash.

"Is this what Emmett was laughing about? He said he left you with some presents and some surprises for me. What's going on?" His voice was quiet and uncertain.

"I missed you!" I reached my arms up to him, and he knelt down to kiss me. "I'll tell you about it if you'll hold me."

Now a smile played on his lips. "That sounds fair."

When I was in his cool embrace, I told him the story about the re-naming and the pets. A few times he started to let out a low growl, but then he remembered my companion and stopped. By the end of the story, he was laughing, too.

"Mosquitoes and Chihuahuas? I thought you thought of me as more than a pest." I could feel his grin as he kissed my hair.

"Of course, you're much more to me than a pest. I don't want to live without you!" I turned to face him and kissed him soundly. "I just wish that you didn't need to be so protective. Jacob cares about me, too. I can't stop being friends with him. Maybe if you can laugh about something together, you can see eachother as something more than rivals and enemies."

"Maybe." Edward replied, doubt evident in his voice.

"I know you'll do it for me. Jake said he'd be nicer." I let out a smile, which he kissed.

"If Jacob can be nicer, I can be nicer too," he replied.

"Smart boy." I patted his head, but he took my hand to kiss it. I greeted this loving sign of affection with a huge yawn.

"Sleep, Bella, and dream of your pets. And of what we can do together tomorrow."

"Walk the dog ... " I smiled, sleepily.

I could feel his silent laughter shake his body and mine, and then he started humming my lullaby, and I fell back to sleep.


	4. Picnic

**Chapter 4: Picnic**

**A/N**: This is a story inspired by the many (wonderful) stories about Bella being torn between Edward and Jacob, as well as some others. Please remember that this is listed as **humor**/romance, and everything is meant in good fun!

**Disclaimer:** _ I don't own Twilight, New Moon, or Eclipse. I just like having fun with the characters and world the wonderful Stephenie Meyer created._

_-------------_

As usual, I woke up Sunday morning in Edward's cold arms. Unusually, though, I wasn't awoken by his melodic voice, but rather by the warm tongue of a dog licking my cheek. I opened my eyes and sat up quickly, momentarily confused. "Hunh?"

Edward smiled at me indulgently. "Don't you remember, you have a dog now!" he laughed.

"Oh, yes, of course! My two new pets - the dog and the creature who eats blood. Yippee!" I laughed too.

Edward really **did** walk the dog around the house while I ate some breakfast. It really is handy sometimes to have a boyfriend who doesn't eat! I put up the dishes and packed a couple sandwiches and a Coke into a backpack. I added the extendable leash, fetching toys, and some dog treats, and was ready to go when Edward walked back in the house.

"What are you all packed up for?" he looked at my backpack oddly.

"I don't have anything to do today, I thought we could go to our meadow and have a picnic and play with Mystic!"

"You made a rhyme!" the crooked grin reappeared on his face.

"I do it all the time." I smirked back at him.

"No more, please! OK, we'll go. But no dog hair in my Volvo - we have to take your truck, I think." Edward looked down at the shedding machine, and over at the sofa, which already had dog hair on it.

"Charlie told me he was working today - I'll leave him a note." I grabbed a piece of paper and was writing a note to leave on the table when the phone rang. I picked it up, "Hello?"

"Hey Bella!" came Jacob's voice.

"Hi Jake!" I smiled. Edward frowned, but when I poked him, he tried to find a more neutral expression.

"You busy today?"

"Kinda. I was planning to go for a picnic with Edward and Mystic." I paused. "I shouldn't have to warn you to be polite, right?"

"Of course not! I just thought that Mystic might want to go for a run in the woods." He laughed, "Since that's not really something you do so much."

"Ha, ha, ha Jacob. You're so funny. Well, I'm going on my picnic. Call me on my cell and maybe we can meet up so you can go on that run."

"Sounds good. I've been reading up on how to feed Stripes. The ... uh ... Emmett chose well, I approve."

"Bye Jake." I put the phone down, and offered my arm to Edward. "Are we ready, fair prince?"

He bowed. "Yes, milady. Your carriage awaits."

With that we walked out to my truck, but I gave him the keys so I could keep a hand on Mystic. She liked him enough not to bark at him, but I figured it was better if I had a hold on her. She surprised me, though, by sitting on my lap so she could put her head on his thigh, clearly very comfortable touching both of us.

I smiled, "I feel like we're a family now! Look at our sweet baby!"

"She is sweet. I like cuddling with both of you, you keep me warm," he replied.

"Never thought I'd hear you say you liked a **dog**," I grinned, laughing.

"Well, at least it's not a chihuahua!" Edward's crooked smile warmed my heart.

When we got to the end of the road, we all bundled out of my truck. Edward held on to Mystic's leash while I grabbed the picnic backpack. "I think I should still carry you, Bella, because Mystic can run faster than you. I'll go slower than usual, so it will take a little while longer because we don't want to leave her behind."

"Sounds smart. I don't want to end up breaking my ankle tripping over a tree root! That would make walking the dog harder. I'd end up having to take care of Stripes instead." I shuddered.

"Wait, you don't **like** the bloodsucking pet?" He looked hurt.

"No, no, no - I like him just fine. I just don't want to **feed** him! I don't want to watch you feed either, but I still love you!" I was a little anxious - was he seriously hurt? I pulled on my backpack, and made sure my hair was pulled back before the run.

"I know, love, I know. I was just teasing." Edward smiled at me, then leaned down and kissed me. I pulled him close, enjoying his cold lips on mine and the feel of his silky bronze hair in my fingers. Too soon he pulled away, a look of regret on his face. "We should get going, Mystic is starting to look impatient!"

"OK" I replied, because he was right - Mystic was practically bouncing up and down. Edward pulled me up onto his back as if I were weightless, and then took hold of Mystic's leash.

I am sure I will never get used to the feeling of running with Edward - watching the trees speed past us and the feeling of the wind on my face. Even though we were moving slower than he usually did, it was still much faster than I could run. I had read that Australian Cattle Dogs are very sturdy, work-oriented dogs, and Mystic was proving that right, keeping stride with Edward as we ran the two miles to our meadow.

Edward put me down when we reached the edge of the meadow, and then he took my backpack to lay out a blanket. Mystic instantly went to lie down on it, and I joined her. Edward scootched in with us so I could use his arm as a firm pillow. It was lovely to just lie on the blanket quietly looking at the clouds, with one cool body and one warm body beside me. It felt so **right** to have both sensations. I snuggled closer to Edward, and he leaned down to kiss me. It was a gentle, loving kiss of contentment. I leaned back again, watching the clouds float above us.

We sat peacefully for a while until my stomach grumbled, which made me blush and Edward laugh. "Time to feed the human!" I joked.

Edward grabbed my backpack and laid out the picnic for me. I was leaning against him, with Mystic snuggled between us, and I started on a sandwich. I had only taken a couple bites when I saw a familiar russet wolf coming out of the forest and into the meadow. Mystic jumped up and ran over to Jacob-the-werewolf, but she sniffed him curiously - she knew his scent, but his shape was different.

"Hi .. Jacob" Edward said, in a tone of strained politeness.

Jacob's head nodded at us.

"Hey Jake. You here to take Mystic for a run?" I asked. He nodded again, and I unclipped Mystic's leash. Jake came over and "kissed" my cheek, then nudged Mystic to take her out into the forest.

I sat with Edward, talking, kissing, and enjoying the peace of the meadow. I kept teasing him about walking the dog, but he took it in stride. After about an hour, I stood up and stretched - my body was starting to ache after being in the same position for so long.

"Lets walk down to the creek! The sun has finally warmed up the day a bit - I want to splash my feet," I announced. I kicked off my shoes to feel the grass on my feet, then held out a hand to Edward, as if to help him up.

Edward grinned and jumped to his feet and took my hand, kissed it, and then started walking with me down to the creek. "We shall do whatever my lady wishes," he said with a bit of a smirk.

I sat down on one of the rocks on the edge of the creek and dangled my feet. Edward stood in the creek, his cold body unconcerned with the chilly spring water. "Splash fight! I'm going to get you!" I shouted, and kicked water at him.

"You didn't give me any warning! That's not fair!" Edward smiled his crooked grin at me, and splashed gently with his feet.

"C'mon vampire boy, don't you know how to splash fight?" I teased, kicking my feet harder in the chilly water.

"Hmmm... methinks you are winning - I'm looking soaked, and you only have a couple drips on you ... " Edward paused, and then splashed a **big** splash at me, soaking my white t-shirt.

I gasped from shock and cold. "Hey, talk about unfair!" I jumped off the rock onto the slippery, cold bed of the creek. I scooped water into my hands and splashed it all over his bronze hair, until it was dripping in his face.

We kept splashing each other, grinning, until we saw Jake and Mystic coming over. Mystic bounded into the creek and started splashing **everyone**. Jake loitered on the side of the creek until I splashed him. Then he joined in. It's possible that Jake and Edward were splashing each other more than they were splashing me, but it felt like we were all having fun.

You know the expression, "It's all fun and games until somebody gets hurt"? That should have been my horoscope for that Sunday. I was reaching down to gather more water for splashing when I lost my footing. My feet had gotten cold and clumsier in the chilly creek, but since the boys were impervious to the cold and I was having fun, it wasn't something we were worried about.

I slipped, falling and hitting my head, legs, arms, and ribs against the hard, sharp rocks in the creek. I saw Edward's face and Jacob's face looking down at me, their mouths moving without sound, and then everything was dark.

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**A/N:** OK, so this part has a bit of suspense, not just humor/romance. There's more humor coming, I promise. I just have to get through the next bit. Please review! It makes me feel so happy. Then I know I'm not just writing for myself!


	5. Change

**Chapter 5: Change**

**A/N**: This is a story inspired by the many (wonderful) stories about Bella being torn between Edward and Jacob, as well as some others. Please remember that this is listed as **humor**/romance, and everything is meant in good fun!

This chapter requires some POV changes. I hope they flow OK, I haven't done them before.

**Disclaimer:** _ I don't own Twilight, New Moon, or Eclipse. I just like having fun with the characters and world the wonderful Stephenie Meyer created._

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**Bella POV:**

_I feel like I'm floating. I can see the two men I love here with me, together. I can see their faces, and want them to be smiling, but instead they both look so serious. I try to smile at them, but it isn't working - my body won't respond. I can see the love in both their eyes. It has ripped me apart inside to be forced to choose between them. I feel so peaceful being with them both. I feel a warm glow of happiness inside me. I think I'll rest now ..._

**Edward POV:**

It felt like it happened in slow motion: one moment we were playing around, and then the next Bella started to slip. I couldn't get to her in time. She fell down onto the rocks in the creek, hitting just about every part of her body. The water started turning pink, and my heart broke to watch her lifeblood flow away through the icy water.

I tried talking to her, and so did ... Jacob, but she passed out very quickly. Instinct won out over medical training, and I picked her up and carried her out of the creek and up to the blanket. Mystic was right at my heels, and she curled right at Bella's feet when I laid her down on the blanket.

**Jacob POV:**

Could this day have gone any worse? First I see Bella so happy with ... Edward, while I was left to run with her dog. (Mystic is a way cool dog, though - I had a lot of fun running with her!) I was so surprised to find them playing in the creek when we got back - I always thought Bella's "fun" times were with me, but they were having a great splash fight. I was glad Bella invited me to join them, but I think she noticed I was trying to splash Edward more than her! She was too much of a distraction in a clinging wet white t-shirt anyhow.

Watching her slip and fall was like watching a train go off the tracks - there was nothing I could do to stop it, and I felt so helpless. I tried to talk to her, but she lost consciousness too fast. I couldn't look at the water turning pink, it turned my stomach. Edward picked her up, and I followed her, Mystic managing to push in front of me so she was closer to her human.

Edward laid her down on the blanket, and I Changed to lay next to her like Mystic, to use my body heat to keep her warm. The sun had gone behind a cloud, and the wind was making the meadow chilly.

**Edward POV:**

I never thought I'd be grateful to two dogs. Jacob changed into wolf form, and curled up along Bella's side. Mystic was curled at her feet, and I heard Jake say to me, "_I can keep her warm, what can you do?_"

"I don't know. I've been to medical school a couple times, but it doesn't look like there is anything we **can** do. She's losing blood in so many places, she's cold, and it looks like she has internal bleeding around her ribs. I'm going to have to poke and prod her to find out what's going on."

_"I trust you... With keeping her safe._"

That must have been hard for him to say. I nodded, then told him, "I'm going to have to take off her shirt to assess her injuries. I want to be able to wrap the blanket around her as quickly as we can. OK?"

Jake nodded his assent, and I ripped her shirt. I had never seen her topless before, and I had wanted it to happen under different circumstances. Her body was beautiful, it left me breathless. I shook my head, and concentrated on looking at her injuries.

The blood was quickly soaking the blanket - she had 2 head wounds which were bleeding hard. I touched them both, and found that a piece of her skull was wiggling beneath my fingers. I gently touched her ribs, and felt a few breaks there as well. I checked her legs too, but that looked like minor scraping. She might have an ankle injury, but nothing more than that.

I stared down at her, my heart unwilling to accept what the logical part of my brain was saying: Bella was dying. Her breathing started to become ragged - either the head wound was causing problems, or one of her broken ribs had pierced a lung.

I looked at Jake. "I need to talk to you as a human, and we need to wrap her in the blanket."

Jake nodded, Changed, then helped me wrap Bella's broken body in the picnic blanket.

**Jacob POV:**

I knew something was wrong. I knew something was deeply wrong. Edward's eyes held such pain, I never knew one of _them_ could feel pain. I guess I never thought of them as anything other than rivals and enemies. He knelt down and just stared at her, as if in a daze.

"What did you find out?" I asked him. That broke him out of his reverie.

"She's dying. Her head ... Her ribs ... Both are severe injuries. Even if we could get her to the hospital in 5 minutes, they couldn't save her."

"No! That can't be true!" I yelled, not wanting to believe. But then I listened to Bella's breathing, which was growing ragged.

**Edward POV:**

I looked at Jacob. I didn't want to make this decision with him here. But there was no way of getting him to leave.

"There is one other way," I said.

"What? How can you save her?" He was quick to jump at the idea.

"It might not be saving her, but she wouldn't be dead. She's been asking me to Change her. If I bit her, she wouldn't die, she'd Change into a vampire."

"That would break the treaty." Jake said.

"Yes. I'd need your permission before I did it. But we need to decide soon, her breathing isn't getting any easier. She needs to be strong enough to survive the Change." I looked him in the eyes, both of us kneeling on either side of Bella - united together for once, for her.

**Jacob POV:**

I couldn't believe the choice he was giving me. Turn my best friend, a girl I loved, into my mortal enemy, or watch her die. But really, it wasn't a choice. There was only one answer.

"Change her. She is too wonderful to be lost."

Edward nodded, and leaned over to bite her. I forced myself to watch as he bit her in the neck, wrists, and ankles - briefly each time. He had the opportunity to suck her dry, but he didn't - it went against everything I had thought true about the Cold Ones. Maybe they aren't all evil bloodsuckers. Maybe some are special - like Stripes the tarantula!

**Edward POV:**

I felt so grateful Jacob didn't disagree with me. It felt like a huge weight was lifted from me: I was planning to bite her anyhow, but it was better to have his blessing than to try to sneak her off somehow.

I knew it was coming, but it still didn't prepare me for listening to Bella scream. It broke my heart to hear her in so much pain. I turned to Jake, "We need to take her to my house, get Carlisle to help." He nodded his assent, then changed back into wolf form, keeping Mystic with us.

Bella thrashed in my arms, screaming and calling out for me and for Jake. I couldn't keep him away from her - she wanted both of us at her side.

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**A/N:** This part wasn't actually funny. But this chapter needed to happen as part of the plot.


	6. Cool Hands Hot Hands

**Chapter 6 - Cool hands, Hot hands**

**A/N**: This is a story inspired by the many (wonderful) stories about Bella being torn between Edward and Jacob, as well as some others about powers she gets after the Change. This chapter is another not-very-funny chapter, because it's hard to make 3 days of pain funny.

**Disclaimer:** _ I don't own Twilight, New Moon, or Eclipse. I just like having fun with the characters and world the wonderful Stephenie Meyer created._

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**Jacob POV**

I helped Edward carry Bella through the woods, Mystic at our heels. Bella seemed to need my heat and Edward's cold - if ony one of us was holding her, she would scream more.

When we arrived at Edward's parked car, I tried to assess what was going on. Edward had some blood on him, but I seemed covered in it. I ripped off my bloody shirt, not wanting to get any ... mosquitoes interested in me. That's when I noticed that I had some cuts, too. The sharp rocks in the creek must have cut me when I dove down to help Bella.

Edward needed to get a blanket out of the trunk, so I held Bella close to me, skin to skin. This wasn't how I wanted our first skin-to-skin encounter, but despite the horror-movie quality of the scene, she still felt **so** good against my body. I worried slightly about the possibility of mixing blood with her, and that the venom could get to me, but I figured the venom couldn't be everywhere yet.

Holding Bella safe and tightly too me felt so **right**, I buried my head in her hair, inhaling her beautiful scent. All too soon, Edward had set up the back of the car so that I could lay Bella down in some semblance of comfort, and without getting the car covered in blood. I sat carefully in the back, trying to help Bella find a comfortable position, but she kept screaming in pain.

**Edward POV**

I couldn't bear listening to Bella scream. I hated that I couldn't hold her as I drove home. I could feel Mystic's warmth on my leg, and I saw her head on my thigh, looking at me with what seemed like sympathy in her eyes. I patted her gently as I drove as fast as I could to our house. I wished that I could refuse admittance to Jacob, but Bella found comfort with him **and** me, and I wanted her to have as much comfort as she could during the pain I caused.

"Let's get her out, and into my room. We can try to make her comfortable until Carlisle can help her." I said, throwing open the doors and working with Jacob to hold Bella. Mystic followed us almost silently, her eyes on her mistress.

The house was quiet when we walked through the door, but I could hear their thoughts in other areas of the house. "Everybody listen!" Suddenly Carlisle and Esme, Jasper and Alice, and Emmet and Rosalie were in the entryway. "Bella fell in the creek. She was bleeding too much, and I had to bite her. Jacob was there and absolved me from the treaty."

"Why is **he** still with you?" Rosalie asked with a bit of a sneer. I could hear a bit of a growl from Jake.

I held tightly to my poor Bella. "Bella needs both of us with her right now - she seems to get comfort from Jacob's heat and my cold. If it helps her get through the change, I'll do anything."

"Go upstairs and get her comfortable, Edward. I'll be up with some morphine in the hopes that it will dull some of the pain." Carlisle moved towards his office. He stopped for a moment and turned back to us. "As soon as you can, you should change out of your clothes. The blood will be a distraction for everyone, and Jasper might be able to help Bella if there isn't so much blood around her."

Alice popped up at my elbow, startling me. "Let me clean up Bella, Edward. You and Jacob take quick showers - I'll do my best to keep her comfortable. Jasper **does** want to help, and if everyone's cleaned up he can."

I looked at her, surprised, then nodded. "That sounds like a good idea." I turned to Jacob, "Jasper can help change people's emotions. He might be able to help her calm down." Jacob's eyes widened, and then he nodded.

"I can take her now." Alice reached out her hands, and Jacob and I both handed Bella to her. As soon as she left our arms, Bella started screaming again. Alice held her close murmuring to her, then raced upstairs to clean her off in one of the bathrooms. I couldn't hear much from Alice, she was so worried for Bella, but I could hear a few passing thoughts: _I hope I can help her feel better. I'm glad the boys can work together to help her. It would have been perfect if she had worn her "Bite Me" shirt for the picnic today! I __**hate**__ not being able to see what is going to happen when the werewolves are involved._ I stopped focusing on Alice so I could get cleaned up quickly and comfort Bella myself.

"Emmett, can you grab Jacob a change of your clothes? I don't think he'll fit in mine." I asked, moving towards the stairs to go shower. Jacob followed me, with Emmett right at his heels. I looked around for a moment for Mystic, then realized she had followed Alice upstairs. That dog stuck like velcro to Bella.

Jacob and I both showered quickly, and we appeared to come out of the two bathrooms at the same time. I walked with him silently to my room, and I knocked on the closed door.

"It's OK Edward, I've cleaned her up. You can come in." Alice's voice called from inside my room over Bella's moans.

**Jacob's POV**

The Cullens' house was **huge**! I couldn't believe it. I guess with all the people in there it needs to be, but still. Plenty of bathrooms for 3 people to get clean, with some to spare. I'm feeling very uncomfortable being here, the sickly sweet stench of **them** is everywhere. Bella's scent is everywhere too, though. It's a mix of unsettling and comforting. I took the quickest shower in the world once the little pixie girl took Bella. I was hoping to get to Bella before Edward was finished, but it appeared that we tied.

Of course, Edward looked completely proper in his clean clothes, whereas if someone looked at me they would have laughed. I'm much bigger than Edward or his blonde brother, but I'm still smaller than the huge one. So I've got some sweats and a t-shirt from the huge one, and the shirt is dwarfing me _(which I never thought would happen!)_, while the sweats seem ready to fall down at any moment.

When Edward and I walked into his room, my eyes were on Bella, laying on a black leather couch. I glanced quickly around the room and realized there was no bed. I guess we'd have to get comfortable on the couch - at least there was a lot of music around. Bella's head was in the pixie girl's lap, and Mystic was curled up, snuggling her feet. Bella had been cleaned up, and was wearing something blue that didn't cover that much of her. _Bella would be blushing like mad if she knew she was with Edward and me in those clothes!_ I thought, distracted by how beautiful she was, even in pain.

"Since Bella seems to need heat and cold to be comfortable, I took her head and her dog took her feet. I wish I could do more for her, but after I cleaned her up, I put her in a tank top and shorts because the Change felt like fire to most of us. But if she is acting cold, I put a blanket right there," the pixie said, pointing at a nearby throw blanket. Again, I was amazed to look in the girl's face and see love and pain - she truly cared for Bella and was upset she was in so much pain. This wasn't what I was expecting from **them**. Hunh.

She started talking again, "I know I saw this happening, and I know she wanted it, but it is still so hard to see her hurting so much." With that, she slipped out from under Bella's head, and walked towards the door. "I'll tell Jasper he can come up when he gets back. You'll have to yell or send a message if you need or want me - I can't see anything with _him_ here."

Edward quickly slipped into the place his sister had been, stroking Bella's forehead. I sat with her legs in my lap. Mystic laid next to me, leaning against her feet. I felt jealous of Edward's place by Bella's head, but tried to quash that emotion."

"There will be plenty of time to change positions." Edward said, startling me. He must have "overheard" my thoughts.

"Yes. I'm not going to let my jealousy interfere with her care. Bella comes first." I said, gently caressing her legs. _There are positives to being at this end of her, too._ I thought, knowing he would overhear me.

Bella tossed and turned as she lay across our bodies, moaning in pain and calling both our names out at random. We tried to soothe her with our touch, and it seemed to help a bit.

**Bella POV**

I knew that being Changed was going to hurt, but nothing had prepared me for this level of pain. The from James' bite was nothing compared to this. I was alternately burning and freezing, my injuries aching. I had vague feelings of comfort and sanity from a hot body and a cold body, but nothing could dull the burning going through my body, and the feelings of cold that would sometimes follow the burning.

A few times it felt worse, so much worse - I was missing something, one of my touchstones was gone. A few moments later the heat or chill would return, and the pain would be more manageable. I could hear my voice moaning and screaming, but it didn't feel like I was controlling it.

After what seemed like forever, I started feeling less pain. I could open my eyes and look out. "Jasper! Thank you!" I croaked, my voice hoarse from calling out in pain.

Jasper smiled. "I'll do what I can to help."

"Thank you." I looked up, and Edward was holding my head, then looked down and found Jacob and Mystic by my legs and feet. "My two heroes!" I smiled at them both, but then another wave of burning pain seared through me, and I cried out. Four hands caressed me - 2 cold, 2 hot, and the pain was eased. Time passed, but I could only feel the pain and the soothing hands, and the waves of calm from Jasper.

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**A/N:** Please review! I've had a bad day with my chronic pain, and it will make me very happy. The next chapter will be more fun, I needed chapters 5 & 6 to carry the story along.


	7. Awakenings

**Chapter 7 - Awakenings**

**A/N**: I'm sorry it took so long to update - I have chronic pain that moves through my body. I couldn't type because I couldn't use my left hand all day yesterday. bah, humbug.

**Disclaimer:** _ I don't own Twilight, New Moon, or Eclipse. I just like having fun with the characters and world the wonderful Stephenie Meyer created._

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**Edward POV**:

While Bella was undergoing the Change, I tried hard to be nice to Jacob. It was easier to be nice to him since I knew that Bella was happier when we were both there. Alice took my place soothing Bella with cold hands for a little while so I could talk to Carlisle.

"We're going to have to fake her death, Edward. There's no other choice." Carlisle said.

"I know. Plus, we'll need to move soon - we have been saying that for a while. But with Bella being a newborn, it's going to be even more important." I replied.

"I've been thinking about it, and what makes the most sense is for the two of you to die in a car crash. That will also give us the reason to leave - we don't want to stay where you died." I nodded, Carlisle was making a lot of sense.

"I'm guessing you're going to suggest my Volvo for this scheme." I sighed.

"I'm sorry, but yes. Bella's truck is parked at Charlie's house, and it just doesn't have the speed for a crash that incinerates everything."

"Fine. But can you work on the plan with Emmett and Jasper? I need to be stay with Bella."

"Sure. But that's something else I wanted to say to you - Bella finding comfort from cool hands is normal. That was the case for all of you when you were going through the Change." He paused, and I nodded. "Where Bella is different is that she is **also** finding comfort from Jacob's hot hands, and Mystic's warm body. I don't understand why that is happening. We always knew that something was unusual about Bella, but I wanted you to know that I've never heard of anything like this happening."

I nodded again. "But how many people are friends with vampires and werewolves when they Change? Bella is wonderfully unusual. I look forward to meeting who she becomes when her Change is complete." I smiled at the thought.

Carlisle broke me out of my reverie, "Go back to Bella. She still has about 24 hours. Emmett will help me with the crash."

I took my place at Bella's side again, Jacob and I trying to help her through the Change. As Alice started to walk from the room, I heard her thoughts, _Bella may be having a painful time right now, but how lucky to be loved by two hot guys. I worry about them, though - what will happen to the other when she chooses one? Maybe there's another way ..._

**Jacob POV**

This "Change" thing takes forever. I haven't really eaten for 2 days, and I'm starving. I want to be here with Bella, but I also need to eat and check in with the pack. I don't want to leave her with Edward alone, but I guess I don't have a choice. I should probably go get Stripes from her house, too.

I turned to Edward, "I need to run home for a bit - I hope Mystic can cover the heat for Bella. I've got to eat and check in with Sam and the rest of the pack."

"OK," he replied. "We'll take care of Bella until you can come back."

"What did Carlisle talk to you about?"

"We had to plan Bella's death. Emmett is going to explode my Volvo soon."

"So I'll have to go to your funeral **and** hers?"

"Yes, but don't worry about crying for me. I've had a lot of funerals." Edward actually smiled at me.

"Don't worry, I won't cry for you, just for Bella - I wish this hadn't happened." I looked down at her, writhing in pain because I agreed to let Edward bite her. I hope this is better than having her be dead. I really do. No matter what I do mourn the loss of her as my human friend. "I'll go pick up Stripes from her house. Anything else we can worry about later. She wouldn't want her pets to go hungry or anything."

"Thanks for remembering. You're right. Emmett has been taking care of Mystic, but I think in the chaos he has forgotten about Stripes." Edward looked at me, "Thanks for worrying about her bloodsucking pet," he said with a grin.

"Well, thanks for helping take care of her **dog**," I returned with a grin. "I'll be back as soon as I can.

"I'll call you on your cell phone if anything happens here - she'll need to hunt as soon as she comes out of the Change. You shouldn't be there when she hunts."

"OK. I'll keep the phone with me." And with that, I walked out of the room, and back through the home of all the ... _mosquitoes_. I needed to get over my prejudice against them - they really were helping Bella so much.

I Changed into wolf form as soon as I left the house and loped back to La Push. Billy had left me a note that he was at Charlie's, so I was able to just eat a few sandwiches. I showered and put on some clean clothes, and walked over to Sam's house to tell him what happened with Bella and the treaty.

**Edward POV**:

I was surprised that I was able to joke a bit with Jacob - but after 2 days of sitting together, I was starting to see him as a person who cared about Bella, not just a rival and a dumb werewolf. Maybe werewolves weren't **all** bad. It's hard to battle 100 years of training, though.

About an hour after Jacob left, Bella started to thrash more. I held her tightly, and Mystic curled right up beside her. Bella's heart started to bead wildly, and I called for Carlisle.

"This should be close to the end," Carlisle said after listening to her heartbeat. "The venom is now at the heart. It should stop soon."

I held her close, so worried about her heart stopping - it felt so wrong to hear her heart stutter, then stop. _Will the Change work? Will she understand why we had to do this? Will she be OK? Will she just die despite all we did? Will she still love me after this?_ Thoughts raced through my head.

I looked down at Bella's face, it was radiant with beauty. The Change had simply made her **more** of what she was - absolutely gorgeous. I couldn't help myself, and I kissed her. Just like Sleeping Beauty, she woke up.

"Edward?" She looked up at me, then down at Mystic, then over at Carlisle. "What happened? I remember playing in the meadow, then a lot of heat and cold and pain. What's going on?"

I took a deep breath, "You fell in the creek. You hit your head and a few other places, and you were bleeding a lot - internally and externally. Jacob and I both realized that you wouldn't make it to a hospital, so we agreed that I would bite you and he would clear things with the Pack about the treaty."

"So, I'm a vampire now?" Bella asked, with the beginnings of a grin.

"Yes. The Change was hard for you, and for some reason you needed heat from Jake or Mystic, and cold from me or Alice to comfort you. Jasper helped you handle the pain, too."

"But I thought the Change was hot? Why would I need hot bodies near me?" Bella looked confused.

"I don't know." I smiled at her. "You've always been special and unique!" I kissed her again.

Bella turned to Carlisle, "Do you know what was going on with my Change?"

Carlisle shook his head, "No. I'm confused. My only idea is maybe that your body needed the two people you care for to become closer? I don't know if they are **emotionally** closer now, but after two days of sitting next to each other, they are at least **physically** closer!" I was surprised to see a grin on Carlisle's face.

"Are you feeling thirsty, Bella?" I asked. This was the one thing I worried about - how could she handle her thirst and deal with her close friendship with Jacob?

"Is that what the dry feeling is in my throat?" she asked.

Carlisle nodded. "Yes. Edward should take you hunting. It would be a good idea to bring Emmett too, so they can help keep you away from humans."

Bella looked sad for a moment, but she gave Mystic a hug, and then stood up.

"Wait," I said, "Doesn't Mystic's blood bother you?"

"No, should it?" Bella asked.

I raised my eyebrows, "Usually **any** blood is attractive to a newborn. You might be even more unique!"

Alice bounded into the room, "I saw that you woke up, Bella! Oh, wow - you look lovely! I have to show you yourself in the mirror!" Alice shooed Carlisle away, but kept me close. _Make sure you compliment her, Edward! She needs to feel beautiful._ I blinked - of course I'd do that! Silly Alice.

_I'll get Emmett ready to go with you,_ Carlisle thought to me. _He's strong enough to help if there's a problem. I don't understand why she isn't attracted to her dog's blood, but it is a good thing, so I'm not going to worry about it too much._

Alice and Bella had walked into the largest bathrooms, and faced the full-length mirror on the wall. I heard Bella gasp, and then I walked in.

"Look at you, Bella!" Alice cried, "You have more curves! We'll have to shop for new clothes for you!" Alice's eyes were bright with excitement.

"I, I, I can't believe it. I look different, but it's still me." Bella seemed stunned by her reflection.

"Of course you're still you! You're beautiful and wonderful!" Alice said, hugging her. _Now is when __**you**__ say something, Edward!_

I took the subtle hint. "Bella, you were gorgeous before - the Change just emphasized everything about you that I love. You look wonderful, and you will always look beautiful to me."

Bella looked worried, "Even with my eyes red? I don't like them like this!"

I hugged her tightly. "Of course I love you even with your eyes red! It will go away in a year. A year isn't that long to wait."

"Thank you Edward. I love you." She turned to me and kissed me.

I could hear Alice leaving the room as our kiss deepened - we didn't have the same boundaries as before, and our lips opened together for the first time. I could taste her sweetness, and reveled in it.

"Hey kissy-face boy! Your girlfriend needs to go hunt, or she'll get grouchy." Emmett came up behind me. I'm surprised I didn't hear him thinking before he got to me, but kissing Bella put everything else out of my mind.

I smiled at her, "He's right - we should go hunt. I haven't hunted in a few days either - I was with you."

Emmett took Bella's arm in his, and started down the stairway singing, "We're off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of Oz!"

Bella giggled. "I think we need to be off to see the animals!"

"OK, then here goes." Emmett cleared his throat, and I followed them out the door, and into the forest. Emmett's voice rang out, "We're off to see the animals, the wonderful animals of the forest! If ever a wonderful dinner there was, the animals of the forest are it because, because, because, because, because, ... because of the wonderful dinner they are!"

Bella and I both broke into laugher along with Emmett. When we had finally stopped laughing, I had to be the serious one. "We should run for a bit, and be quiet so we can find something to eat."

Bella stuck out her tongue at me. "You're no fun!"

Emmett nodded. "You're right, he isn't any fun. Unfortunately, he is right."

With that dubious agreement, we ran into the forest. On the way, Bella suddenly stopped, gagging. "What is that smell?"

Emmett frowned, "Oh no - there are campers nearby."

"**That** is what humans smell like? But that's **disgusting**! How can you find it appealing?" Bella looked at us, confused.

"I think you react differently to different types of blood than we do." I said. I made a mental note to talk to Carlisle about this when he got back. "We should keep going - there's a herd of deer up ahead, and some other game."

Emmett and Bella nodded, and we started running again. A wolf cut across our path, but Bella ignored it, and kept running. Emmett and I shared a glance. Another mental note for Carlisle. When we reached the herd of deer, Bella was salivating. I showed her how to pick out one of the weaker deer, to cull the herd. She kept good control over her thirst, quickly draining 2 deer. Emmett helped her dispose of them afterwards.

I was thirsty, and a mountain lion was coming close to the deer. I asked Bella if she could smell it, and she could, but she said it didn't make her hungry like the deer did. Another mental note. I left her with Emmett while I hunted and fed. When I returned, we started running again. There was a farm near where we were running, and Bella noticed the sheep. More salivating. I had never found sheep particularly attractive, but Bella was having a very hard time controlling herself. I found a sheep that could be culled, and Bella quickly ate. After she finished and we ran a bit past the farm, Bella stopped running to talk to us.

"Wow." Bella said. "The thirst is **strong**! It's really hard to ignore. I hadn't thought it was **that** strong. I thought it would be easier to deal with."

I nodded. "Yes, it is very strong, especially for a newborn. But you are dealing with it very differently - you have no appetite for humans, nor for the larger animals. You only seem attracted to prey animals. That's really useful for dealing with the world, but it's also very unusual."

Emmett grinned, "We always knew you'd be different!" He punched her arm. She punched him back, and he staggered - he had forgotten that newborns were strong!

"Gee, thanks!" Bella retorted. "Well, if I have to be different, I'd rather it be this way - I don't want to hunger for humans. I'd like to be around them without holding my nose, though." At this thought, she smiled. Emmett and I smiled with her.

"Well," I said, remembering my promise. "We should meet up with Jake. I promised I'd call him after you fed. Are you up for a run to our meadow?"

Bella grinned, "So, you aren't actively avoiding him any more? You're actually being nice to him?"

"Yes," I groaned. "After he was so good to you, I have to be nice to him. Are you ready to find out how he smells to you?"

"Yes. But I want Emmett to stay with us, just in case." Bella looked a bit anxious, and I found myself hoping that she would be able to deal with Jake's scent.

"OK. I'll call Jacob now." I took out my phone and called Jacob, telling him that Bella was awake, fed, and ready to see him. "He'll meet us there in a few minutes."

"Ready or not, here we come!" Bella called, and the three of us ran to the meadow together.

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**A/N:** Please review! Sorry it took so long to update, but this was a long one! Next will be the meeting in the meadow ...


	8. Wolfie

**Chapter 8 - Wolfie**

**Disclaimer:** _ I don't own Twilight, New Moon, or Eclipse. I just like having fun with the characters and world the wonderful Stephenie Meyer created._

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**Bella POV:**

If I had a diary, today's entry would take pages and pages and pages. First, I wake up from what felt like a nightmare of pain, heat, and cold. When I wake up, I'm (finally!) a vampire. My body has become curvy - I look HOT all of a sudden! I can finally kiss my boyfriend properly! Of course, we're interrupted because I have to learn how to hunt.

My "brother" teases me about being a freak, and when we go out to hunt for my first time, I find out I **am** a freak! I am repulsed by the smell of humans, have no interest in the blood of hunting animals - especially the wolves, but salivate when around prey animals (I ate 2 deer and 1 sheep! ick!). I just can't think about that. I don't want to think about the idea that my family must think I'm dead, too. Nope, not thinking about either of those things.

Now I find out that we're off to meet my best friend - the one who has had a crush on me for years. My boyfriend is suddenly friendly with him, rather than antagonistic. And my friend is friendly with my boyfriend, too. This is all far too confusing for words.

There are already some things I like about being a vampire. Punching Emmett and making him hurt for a second is fun. heh. Having sexy curves is fun. Kissing my boyfriend is fun. Being able to snuggle with my nice warm dog is fun, too. I bet I'll enjoy not needing to sleep as well.

I'm worried about meeting up with Jacob. I know that werewolves usually smell bad to vampires - what will he smell like to me? I wasn't interested in the blood of humans, nor in the blood of wolves, but will I be attracted to the blood of a werewolf? Would Emmett and Edward be strong enough to keep me off of Jacob? Would they even want to **try** to keep me off of him? Too many thoughts. Too many worries. How many worries can I lock away in my head?

Emmett ran off away from us in another direction, and Edward just smiled at me, as we kept running to the meadow. When we arrived, we were alone. Edward took the opportunity to kiss me thoroughly, our tongues intertwining. When we parted, I was panting - some of my human "habits" hadn't faded yet. Edward just grinned happily at me. I could swear it was almost a smirk

"I want to see where I fell," I said, looking down at the creek. From the shock in Edward's eyes, this was not what he was expecting me to see.

"Are you sure?" Edward asked me, worried.

"Yes." I said, trying to sound definite. I needed to see it, even if I didn't really **want** to see it. We walked carefully down to the creek, and I realized how much more comfortable I was in my skin - I had a gracefulness and sense of balance I don't remember having before. The rocks still looked sharp, but the creek looked peaceful and gentle. I wasn't nervous around the area where I had "died", instead it filled me with peace - the rocks had only helped me become that which I had desperately wanted.

"Hey, come back here!" Emmett's voice rang across the meadow as Mystic wrenched herself free of the leash and over to me.

"Mystic! Thank you for getting her, Emmett!" I ran up and away from the creek and towards my beautiful, fuzzy, warm dog. Mystic's tail was wagging enthusiastically, and she whacked me in the head a few times when I knelt down to pet her. I ran my cool fingers through her warm blue-tinged fur, cuddling her close to me. I relished her warmth, and suddenly understood why Edward had loved laying next to me when I was human - the warmth pulled me to her.

I looked up at Edward suddenly, "Do you still want to be with me, now that I'm not warm?" I asked, afraid of the answer.

He looked stunned. "Of course, Bella, of course. I loved your warmth, I love **you**, and I love you just how you are." He paused, grinning at me, "It is handy you're less breakable now - that's a great trade-off for the warmth!" With that, he swept me off my knees and up to him, kissing me deeply.

I kissed him back soundly, then remembered that Jake was meeting us here, and I didn't want him to feel uncomfortable. I broke off the kiss, then kissed his nose, "Tag, you're it!" I ran away, Edward chasing me, with Mystic weaving between our legs trying to herd us. The first time she tried to nip Edward her expression was one of confusion - he didn't feel like others did!

Edward caught Emmett, and then he was it. I managed to out-maneuver Emmett for a little while, but I was caught up watching Mystic and Edward running together - the grace and beauty of both of them, so I ran straight into Emmett, which was like hitting a brick wall. We both fell over, my momentum knocking us to the ground. We both started laughing hard. Emmett was always so much fun!

"Hey, Edward! I caught Bella! Didn't she tag you with a kiss? Should I do that, too?" Emmett's hands held on to me, keeping my body against his. I could almost **see** the anger coming off Edward in waves.

"Get your hands off her, Emmett! I know where those hands have been, and you don't need to be messing with Bella!" Edward growled across the meadow, coming closer every second.

Emmett whispered quietly, "I think I've tortured him enough. But you're still it!" and with that, he kissed my forehead in a brotherly manner, then ran off quickly, before Edward could reach us and before I could get up again.

I got to my feet just as Edward came to me. "He didn't hurt you, did he?" Edward looked at me, worried.

"He was **teasing** you, goofball!" I crowed. "And it sure worked. Hey, c'mere ..."

"What, love?" Edward leaned closer to me.

I kissed his forehead, just as Emmett had kissed mine. "Now **you're** it!" I laughed, and ran off.

As we were running around the meadow with Mystic, Jacob arrived in human form. We were all laughing, with Mystic barking, and Jacob couldn't help but laugh at us. "What are you all doing?" he asked.

"Playing tag!" I called to him, running over to say hi. "Watch out, Edward's it, and he's fast."

"I don't think I can compete in this shape! You were all running far too fast." Jacob's eyes were round in wonder.

"I'm so happy! I can run and not trip now!" I smiled at him. "And your smell isn't troublesome to me. I was worried about that. Right now humans smell nasty, and I have no interest in the blood of predators, just the prey animals."

"Hunh. That's weird. I'm glad, though. Sam wanted me to make sure you hadn't had any accidents. He and the pack have accepted that the treaty was broken with my consent, and they aren't upset. But if you had trouble controlling yourself, I was going to have to ask you to leave."

"Nope, no accidents! Emmett and Edward are my big strong bodyguards to make sure I don't slip up. But really, the smell is nasty. I'm not that worried about it." I wrinkled my nose.

"For a vampire, you don't smell bad." Jacob replied, wrinkling his nose. "Your scent is more like a bouquet of flowers than sickly sweet."

"So do I get a hug, then?" I smiled at him, opening my arms. I felt a strong need to have his hot body against my cold one.

"Of course!" Jacob hugged me tightly, and we both relished in this reminder of our friendship.

"Owwwww!" I groaned, and Jacob let me out of the hug, worried. I bent down onto my hands and knees, moaning.

"What happened?" i could faintly hear Edward asking Jacob in an accusatory voice.

"We hugged, that was all, then she pulled away, groaning and moaning! Does this happen to most new vamps?" Jacob's voice seemed to float through the fog of pain towards me.

"No. I've never even heard of this." Edward replied, worry carrying through his voice to me beyond the fog.

Then it happened - I could feel a growl growing deep inside me, and I opened my mouth to growl, only to find that my mouth had changed! My mouth was a muzzle, my arms were forefeet, and my legs my hind feet. My eyes caught sight of them, covered in a chocolate brown fur.

I looked around me and saw my inner shock mirrored on the faces around me. Clearly, me turning into a wolf upon touching Jake wasn't what **anyone** was expecting! What the heck would happen next?

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**A/N: **_So, what do __**you**__ think will happen next?_

_I need to actually do some dishes & cleaning, but I'll update as soon as I can._


	9. Two Sided

**Chapter 9**

**Disclaimer:** _ I don't own Twilight, New Moon, or Eclipse. I just like having fun with the characters and world the wonderful Stephenie Meyer created._

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**Edward POV:**

I've been on this planet for over 100 years. I've seen many, many things. It takes a lot to shock me, but somehow Bella has managed to do it numerous times. She is such a strong-minded young woman, and her quirks as a human were a perpetual source of amusement and adoration for me.

Bella's quirks as a vampire were clearly going to cause me to lose my mind! She's repulsed by the smell of humans, not interested in the scent of predatory animals, and only attracted to prey. She'll also only kill to cull the herd. She is still thinking more of others than of herself - she's so loving.

I was shocked by her need to have Jacob or Mystic with her during her Change. I thought that cold packs or cold hands were needed, but she needed both. It mystified me, and mystified Carlisle, but I just lived with it - I would never want to do anything other than make her happy.

The newest shock of seeing her transform from my loving vampire girlfriend into a werewolf was the last straw. I was starting to think I was hallucinating, but as I looked at Emmett and Jacob, I realized I wasn't the only one seeing this.

**Jacob POV:**

I was so worried about seeing Bella after she had Changed. I hadn't wanted to leave her when her Change was almost over, but I did need to eat, and _(loathe though I am to admit it)_ Dr. Cullen was probably right that I shouldn't be there when she got thirsty. I spent the hours before Edward called eating, trying to get some sleep, and thinking.

Mostly, though, I spent my time worrying: Would she remember me? Would Edward and his family have to hold her back so she wouldn't try to drain me? Would her beautiful scent be changed into something sickly sweet? Would I still love her?

That last question was the hardest. I was so certain I had imprinted on Bella, but knowing she loved Edward was heartbreaking. I knew she loved me too, but she said it was in a different way. Maybe if Edward hadn't returned things would be different. I'm trying to be grateful that she is even partially alive.

The phone rang, awakening me from a light sleep filled with worries. Edward was calling me - they were at the meadow. I took a quick shower, found some clean clothes, and loped as quickly as I could in human form over to the meadow. Seeing Bella running with Edward, Emmett, and her dog Mystic filled me with joy - it looked like she was still **Bella**, even after the transformation. I watched her from the shadows of the tree for a moment, enjoying her smile, her new curves, and her confidence and coordination - though I knew I would miss catching her when she fell.

Watching Bella run to me and hug me was like a miracle. Her skin felt so cool to the touch, but her smile and her exuberance hadn't changed. I wrapped my arms around her in a hug she returned enthusiastically _(I forgot vampire strength!). _But a moment later she pulled away, moaning and groaning. She dropped to her hands and knees and transformed into a beautiful chocolate-brown wolf.

I was stunned. I had dreamed of Bella running with me in wolf form, but never thought it would happen. I thought at first I was hallucinating, but then I looked at Edward and Emmett, whose faces both radiated shock. Mystic, however, came bounding over, licking Bella in greeting.

**Bella POV:**

If you need to be brought out of shock, I highly recommend a dog licking you joyfully. It's much better than a bucket of water over the head!

After Mystic greeted me, I looked up at Edward, Emmett, and Jacob. _What's going on?_ I thought.

"You can talk to me?" I heard, in stereo - from all three of them.

"Jinx! You owe me a Coke!" Emmett shouted, but the glare from Edward shut him up.

_I guess I can talk to you like this. What the heck happened? Why am I in wolf form? I thought we knew that my power that I am repulsed by human blood? I didn't know vampires could transform._ I thought all this, along with a jumble of feelings that would have had Jasper tied in knots.

"I've never seen a vampire transform into a wolf before. Never." replied Edward.

"I've never heard of it either. Except in bad movies." was Emmett's helpful contribution. Emmett and Edward looked over at Jacob.

"I have no idea. I've listened to all my dad's stories about the spirit warriors and the cold ones, but I've never heard of this either." Jacob replied, his eyes still showing his shock.

_OK, we've established that I'm a freak __**yet again**__. How do I change back?_ The three guys just looked at me. _You're all so __**helpful**__. Can't even __**one**__ of you three come up with a good idea?_

"Well, I know how **I** change back, maybe that will help?" Jacob answered.

"Hey, the puppy has a good idea!" Emmett explained. I bared my teeth at him and growled, but he laughed anyway.

"So, what I was taught to do is to hold your human, er vampire, image in your mind's eye. Then you kinda _push_ your body back into that shape..." Jacob's voice trailed off. "It didn't make sense to me until someone **showed **me. Do you want me to do that?"

_Yes, please!_ I said, nodding my fool wolf head up and down.

Jacob turned to Edward. "I need to get naked for this. Just so you know. If I don't strip first, my clothes will end up like Bella's." Edward nodded at him. That's when I looked around me and saw that my clothes - **new** clothes from Alice were in shreds on the ground.

_Dammit! So when I change back into my two-legged form, I'm going to be naked? I need some clothes! _I looked sharply at Emmett. _Go get me clothes! And Carlisle. But GO AWAY!_

Edward laughed, but agreed with me. "I think this will be embarrassing enough without you here to tease her about it for eternity. Could you run back to the house and get her some clothes? Carlisle should also come here. If Sam and Billy could get here too, that would also be helpful." As Emmett ran off, Edward turned to Jacob.

"I'll try Sam first on my cell phone, but if he doesn't answer, he'll hear me in wolf form. I don't know if I can get Billy out here easily. Let's see what Sam and Carlisle say first." Jacob opened his phone and called Sam. "Hey Sam ... Yeah, I'm with them ... Something, um, different happened out here, and we need you to come ASAP. ... I know you're busy, but this is important ... I'd rather tell you in person ... Trust me on this, Sam ... I'll look for you in a few minutes ... Don't forget to bring clothes." Jake snapped his phone shut and turned to me and Edward. "He'll be here in a few minutes. Edward, why don't you take off your shirt - Bella could put that on if she is able to change before Emmett gets here."

Edward nodded and took off his button-down shirt, folding it over his arm. "That sounds smart. Now let's see if this works." I could hear some sorrow in Edward's voice. It was probably because he needed Jake's help, and he didn't like that. I didn't know if I could send a thought just to Edward, so I walked over to him and snuggled against him, licking his hand. He smiled at me, and sat down so he'd be at the same level with me. "We'll figure this out, love," he whispered into my fur, and hugged me to him.

Jacob took off his shirt and cut-off sweatpants, and I saw his gorgeous body ripple as he transformed into a wolf. It was beautiful to watch, in a somewhat scary way.

_Can you hear me, Bella? _Jake asked.

_Yes. _I could also hear some of his other thoughts about me, but I tried to ignore those, and focused just on transforming back into a human.

_OK, now watch me with your eyes and mind. _I saw him **pull** within himself, and he stood up, his body rippling back into human form. He pulled on his shorts quickly. If I had been in a human form, I would have blushed watching him.

_I'm going to try now._ I told them, and stepped away from Edward and Mystic for a moment. I closed my eyes and tried to do what Jake had done, **pull **myself back into human form. I could feel my body rippling and changing as I stood up. I opened my eyes and looked down at my body, "It worked!" I shouted, then grabbed Edward's shirt from his arm as he and Jake gawked at my body. "Turn around, boys!" They turned around, rather unwillingly. I buttoned the shirt, then grabbed the picnic blanket, and sat down, wrapping my lower half in the blanket. "OK, you can turn around again now."

"That was amazing," Edward said, his eyes still showing shock. "You made a beautiful wolf!"

"Thank you!" I smiled at him. "Do I smell different now?"

Edward bent over to kiss my head, "Nope. You still smell like Bella."

"You did a great job, Bella! It usually takes newbies more than once to get it right." Jake grinned at me, and also leaned over to kiss the top of my head. "You still smell the same to me, too."

"Sit down, guys. We still need to wait for Sam and Carlisle. I'm not standing up until I get more clothes." I tried to glare at them, but I don't think it came across right, because they both grinned at me and sat one on each side. That was when I realized I was bracketed by two hot guys who were half-naked. My mind started to turn to Jello... and then I realized something, something that would have made me blush red if I was human. "Can you hear my thoughts now that I'm not a wolf any more?"

Thankfully, they both shook their heads. "You're back to being closed off from me, Bella." Edward replied.

"I can only hear the pack when we're in wolf form, so it makes sense to me that we could only hear you when you were a wolf. But none of the pack can send thoughts to humans. Or other pack members in human shape. Edward can read my mind in wolf form, though." Jake said.

We sat in a companionable silence for a little while, and then I heard noises in the forest coming from two different directions. Emmett and Carlisle burst out of the forest on one side, carrying a bag of clothes, while Sam came through the other side wearing only a pair of shorts.

"I hope I can get some answers now!" I mumbled, as everyone sat down, forming a circle.

"So, Jake, what is it you needed me for?" Sam asked. Carlisle also looked confused, so I guessed that Emmett had just asked for clean clothes and grabbed Carlisle without bothering to explain anything.

"I needed you, Sam. And I need you, Carlisle. Something strange happened." I paused, and they both kept their eyes steady on me. I took a deep breath. "I was excited to see Jake when he came to the meadow, so I ran up and hugged him. When I felt the heat from his body, **my** body started to cramp, and I dropped down to the ground. And then I changed into a wolf."

"A beautiful wolf," added Edward.

"Chocolate brown," smiled Jacob

"Jacob taught me how to change back, thankfully. But I want to know why this happened. Will it happen again? What is going on?" I finished in a bit of a panic. I thought my body would be more normal once I was a vampire. Clearly I was wrong.

Carlisle simply looked at me. "Well, I don't know of anything like this happening before."

Sam looked at him, then at me, and at Jacob. "I understand why you called me, Jake, but I don't know of anything like this happening either."

"We knew you were different when you needed heat in addition to cold as you were Changing..." Carlisle paused, then realized all of us were staring at him. "Hang on, I need to think for a few minutes." He stood up and started to pace as the rest of us watched him.

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**A/N:** Thanks to all my reviewers! I was focused on writing this chapter and didn't get a chance to respond to reviews. I'm sorry, I rarely remember to respond to blog comments, too. Anyhow, I hope you liked this nice, long chapter - In chapter 10 we'll find out WHY this happened. Or, at least we should The characters are getting away from my outline a bit, and the word count mounts up pretty quickly!


	10. Blooded

**Chapter 10 - Blooded**

**Disclaimer:** _ I don't own Twilight, New Moon, or Eclipse. I just like having fun with the characters and world the wonderful Stephenie Meyer created._

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**Bella POV:**

While Carlisle was pacing, I thought I'd take the opportunity to change into whatever Emmett had brought for me. I took my clothes and went into the woods to put them on. Of course, Alice had chosen a skimpy blue tank top and shorts. I kept Edward's shirt over my tank top, though - it comforted me as I walked back into the meadow to try to figure out what happened to me. Because, of course, becoming a vampire wasn't exciting enough for me!

"Are we any closer to figuring out what is happening to me?" I said, sitting back down in the loose circle. I was sitting between Edward and Jacob, and leaned against Edward for support. I **needed** to know what was happening to me, but to be honest I wasn't sure I **wanted** to know.

"Can you describe what happened on the day you needed to bite her, Edward?" Carlisle asked.

"Of course," Edward replied, his voice taking on a detached, clinical tone. "Bella, Jake, and I were playing in the creek. Bella fell over, and hit her head and ribs. She was bleeding. Jake slipped trying to catch her, and he got scraped up too. I carried her to the grass, and Jake and I sat with her deciding what to do."

"Jake," Carlisle interrupted Edward, "is there any chance that some of your blood could have gotten into Bella's bloodstream?"

Jake blinked, and I could see him thinking. "Yes. I had no shirt on in the creek, so my scratches were bleeding without anything to stop them. I wasn't worried about **my** injuries, because I heal quickly - I was worried about Bella."

"And you held her against your chest in the car," remembered Edward, following Carlisle's train of thought.

"Yes..." replied Jake - he and I seemed to both be confused, but I could see Sam's eyes light up with understanding.

"I think I know what's happened," said Carlisle. "Changing into a wolf isn't your vampire power - you got some werewolf blood in your body at the same time your transformation into a vampire started. Since the venom works slowly throughout your body, the werewolf blood would have had time to affect you before the Change was complete. I'm thinking that you have some werewolf characteristics, in addition to vampire."

I looked at Carlisle, dazed by all this information. "So," I said slowly, "your theory is that I managed to have werewolf blood mixed with my blood after my accident, and it mutated me while the venom was Changing me?"

Carlisle smiled at me, "Mutated wasn't the word I would use - you aren't a mutant! But other than that, yeah."

"Makes sense to me," Sam agreed. "Trust Bella to manage something unique!"

I rolled my eyes. "So, no one has heard of this before? Really?"

Edward shook his head, "Vampires and Werewolves rarely spend time together. I think you might be one of the few people to be friends with both. You have to admit that it is a rather unusual circumstance to be bled on by a werewolf while a vampire bites you."

"Yeah, I can admit that's unusual." I leaned against Edward for support, I felt drained, and wished that vampires could nap. Mystic cuddled up into my lap. "Hey look! I've got an Australian **Cuddle** Dog!" I smiled, trying to break the tension a bit.

Jake laughed. "She is a very cuddly Cattle Dog. Hey, Emmett - did you get Stripes from Charlie's house? Or should I go pick him up?"

"Naw, I got him. The mutant over there still has her pets." Emmett grinned at me, and I knew that I would **never** live down the mutant comment.

"We're going to need to move soon, Bella." Carlisle said, turning the conversation serious again. "We can't risk people seeing you after you 'died'. But if Sam will agree, I'd like you to talk to Billy, and see if his legends mention anything about Cold Ones and Spirit Warriors mixing together."

"That's a good idea," Sam said. "Jake and I can meet you somewhere with him, but it can't be here - there's no way I want to move the wheelchair through the forest."

Carlisle nodded. "But it can't be in public, either. Could you bring him to our house? We could sit on the back porch. It's away from prying eyes, but much more accessible in a wheelchair than this meadow."

"I'll check with him," Jake said. "It's going to take some convincing. I'll call Bella when I've worked it out." Everyone nodded.

"Jake, I could also use some practice in learning how to phase into a werewolf - could you swing by later to help me?" I asked. I knew Edward wouldn't be thrilled with Jake coming to the house, but there was no way I could go to the reservation.

Edward looked at me thoughtfully, "That sounds like a good idea, Bella. We're teaching you the ins and outs of being a vampire, but we can't help with the werewolf part. It would be great if you could learn from Jake before we have to leave."

Jake nodded. "I'll feel better about you being out in the world, Bella, if I know you can control the wolf part of you. I'l give you a call in a little while, and we can meet in the woods near their house."

"Thanks, everyone. You don't know how much it means to me to have all of you helping me. I couldn't cope with everything without you." If I had been human, my eyes would have started tearing up. I hugged everyone quickly, but Emmett held on tightly.

"You know, if all of us weren't involved, you wouldn't **have** to deal with all this." He smiled, teasing.

I stuck out my tongue at him. "Yeah, and if you weren't around I wouldn't be saddled with two pets, either. I've got a death to deal with, turning into a vampire, turning into a werewolf, a boyfriend, a best friend, a new family, and 2 pets. My plate's a little full."

"You sound like that guy in _The Princess Bride_!" Emmett cheered. "The one who says he's too busy for torture because he has 'a wedding to plan, a wife to murder, and Guilder to blame for it. I'm swamped'. Except you actually are **more** busy. Wow."

"What do I say to that?" I asked. There really wasn't a response, so I thwapped him on the head. "C'mon Edward, run with me back to the house, I want to feel the wind in my hair again - this is almost like flying! Not tripping is a wonderful bonus to becoming a vampire!"

Edward smiled, and reached for my hand. I took it and gave Jake a quick hug with the other arm. "Thanks again everyone - I'll see you later. Emmett, you can bring Mystic home, right?" I said, and pulled Edward after me into the forest without waiting for a reply.

We ran together, and I loved every second of that feeling of almost-flight. Edward slowed and stopped after a bit, and I looked at him. He smiled at me and took my face in his hands, kissing me.

"Bella," he said, his voice husky, "I love you so much. I'm so glad you're still here."

I kissed him back, then smiled. "Even though I'm a mutant?"

I loved seeing his crooked smile. "Mutant or not, I love you forever." Edward's eyes were dark with longing, and he kissed me again.

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**A/N: **_OK, that chapter turned out a bit different than I was expecting. I have to see a new neurologist, and that is going to suck up the rest of my day. I'll get the next chapter up as soon as I can._


	11. Reactions

**Chapter 11 - Reactions**

**Disclaimer:** _ I don't own Twilight, New Moon, or Eclipse. I just like having fun with the characters and world the wonderful Stephenie Meyer created._

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**Edward POV:**

Running through the woods with Bella the first time was a memory I hope I never forget - the look of pure joy on her face as she felt the wind whipping past her face. Her newfound grace and confidence in her body combined with her beauty made her irresistible. I couldn't help stopping every so often to kiss her. She wasn't breakable any more!

When we got back to the house, Alice, Jasper, Esme, and Rosalie were waiting for us. "I couldn't see anything! I was so worried when Emmett came back for Carlisle - what's going on?" Alice's eyes were dark with worry, and her usual perky self was subdued.

I took a deep breath, even 90 years of being a vampire hasn't eliminated that habit for calming myself down. "Bella has found out that she's gotten some, um, unusual abilities for a vampire. We needed Carlisle to come to the meadow with us to talk about them." I said, being vague on purpose - Bella should be the one to tell them, and she was looking nervous.

Esme's face looked concerned, "What's going on, Bella? Is there a reason why you didn't want to talk to Carlisle here? You know we all love you, and are so pleased you are a member of our family. We've just been so worried because Alice hasn't been able to see anything regarding you for the past couple hours, and we were so surprised when Emmett burst in here to grab clean clothes for you and Carlisle, then ran off again without explaining anything."

Rosalie looked miffed. "Emmett seemed to only trust Alice and me to grab you clothes - he was running off with Carlisle before we could even **ask** any questions, much less have him give us answers."

"I'm so sorry!" Bella wailed, putting her face in her hands. I knew she was upset about disappointing the family, and she seemed worried about how everyone would react to her unique situation.

"Let's sit down, OK?" I asked, guiding everyone to the living room. I gave Jasper a pleading look, and I could feel calmness wave over me as he tried to help Bella. "Bella, the whole family loves you and accepts you - it would be best if we talked about it. I think it would be best if you explained, but I could do it if you don't feel up to it."

"No," Bella answered, a resigned look on her face. "I should tell everyone." She took a deep breath too, and I smiled. Human habits are hard to break.

"It's OK, Bella. We're your family no matter what." Esme gave her a gentle hug, and shot me a concerned look over Bella's shoulder. All four of their minds were chorusing _What is wrong? What could be so bad that Bella is nervous about telling __**us**_

"Thanks, Esme. Thanks Jasper for the calming. I'm sorry I worried everyone." Bella began. "Edward, Emmett, and I went out to the meadow for a bit this morning so I could see Jake. He had been such a good friend, even during the Change, I needed to see him. Edward and Emmett were there in case either Jacob or I had trouble controlling ourselves - young werewolf and newborn vampire aren't always a good combo." Bella only managed a feeble grin, but Alice giggled.

"The weird part happened when I went to hug Jake," Bella continued. I could feel my family's eyes on me, but I had accepted Jake being a part of Bella's life, and knew that hugging Jake didn't mean she loved me any less. "When my body felt his werewolf heat, I Phased into werewolf shape."

Gasps came in stereo. I smiled with a little pride, "She becomes a gorgeous chocolate brown wolf," I said, turning my smile to Bella.

"I was able to send thoughts while in wolf form to Edward, Jake, and Emmett, so we could talk a bit about what was going on. Jake managed to help me get back into human form, but I had ripped my clothes, so I needed new ones. So Emmett went for Carlisle and some clothes, and Jake called Sam. We needed to stay at the meadow because it was pretty neutral territory. Carlisle and Sam think that when Jake and I were both bleeding after my accident, the blood mixed together and affected me while the venom was Changing me."

Bella's face looked incredibly drained and worried after telling the family. I guess it isn't often that you tell your in-laws that because you exchanged bodily fluids with someone who isn't their son, you now turn into their mortal enemy.

I wanted to say something before anyone else got a chance. "Carlisle and Sam agreed that Bella should meet with Billy Black to find out if there are any Quileute legends that talk about a mixture of Cold Ones and Shadow Warriors. He's going to come to the house tomorrow - we can't get his wheelchair to the meadow right now. Carlisle and Sam agreed that helping Bella took precedence over the treaty, so we aren't worrying about it."

Esme gave Bella another hug, "I hope you weren't worried we wouldn't accept you!" Esme exclaimed. "We always knew you were unique - we just feel lucky to have you as a member of our family. This should be interesting!"

Alice jumped up and hugged Bella too. "Oh, I'm so relieved! I understand now why I couldn't see you before - it makes a lot of sense. Esme's right - this should be interesting!"

Jasper hugged Bella too, and I could see her surprise. "I'm so glad I can spend more time with you now that you aren't breakable." Jasper said, smiling. "Life is definitely more interesting with you around - never a dull moment!"

Bella looked over at Rosalie. "I don't know why you were looking so worried about this." Rosalie said, dismissing Bella's anxiety with a wave of her hand. "Everyone is right - we knew you'd be different, and now we know what kind of different. It should make our wrestling matches a bit more interesting, though!" Now a smile broke out across Rosalie's face. "Why aren't Carlisle and Emmett here yet, though?"

"They had to walk slower - Emmett had brought Mystic to the meadow with us." Bella replied, and Rosalie nodded.

"I'm going to take Bella upstairs for a while - it's been a long day."

"Of course!" Esme replied. "Bella, we'll figure it all out. I promise, it will be OK."

Bella smiled at her, then at the rest of the family, and took my hand to follow me upstairs. It's probably a sign of how distracted Bella was worried about being part werewolf that she didn't say or do anything when I sat her in my lap, smoothing her hair. It was so peaceful, just resting together. I heard Carlisle and Emmett return, but everyone gave us some space, and it was so nice to just be together in quiet.

**Jacob POV:**

After saying goodbye to Bella and the Cullens, Sam and I started jogging home. I wasn't ready to phase back into wolf form, and neither was Sam - we needed to have a pack meeting about Bella rather than having everyone find out when they "overheard" our thoughts. Sam snapped open his cell phone and called Emily to ask her to gather the rest of the pack at the house, and we ran back to our borders thinking of how to explain this.

Or, **I **thought about how to explain what happened with Bella. **Sam** spent the run deciding that I should explain things to the pack. He also decided that Billy should be there for the pack meeting as an Elder, in case there were some legends about a vampire/werewolf mix. I thought that was highly unlikely myself, but it was worth a try.

"Everybody, quiet!" Sam's voice rang out inside the rec center. There weren't a lot of places in La Push where a group of oversized werewolf kids could meet that could also accommodate Billy's wheelchair. "Jake needs to talk about what happened today, and we need everyone to listen." He turned towards Billy, "We also need to know if anything like this has been mentioned in the old stories, as it's quite unusual."

I stood up, nervous. Becoming a werewolf had helped my self-confidence, height, and strength. It hadn't done anything for my dislike of public speaking, though. Darn. "OK, everybody. To start from the beginning, everyone remembers that Bella was Changed a little more than 3 days ago after she fell and would otherwise have died."

There was a murmur of assent, but an undertone that made me think there was more than one person who thought I had done the wrong thing. I wanted to rail at them, "What you **you** do if the girl you love was bleeding and dying? Would you want her to be a vampire, or dead?" I caught myself just in time, grateful that I was not in wolf form, so they couldn't hear my thoughts, and that I had enough control now to keep my mouth shut occasionally.

"I was also cut - I tried to catch Bella when she fell, and so I was bleeding a bit. Apparently my blood mixed with Bella's before Edward's venom had completely worked its way through her system."

"So what? Why do we care?" Someone called out. I tried to identify the heckler, but couldn't.

"We care because she's a friend of the Pack. We care because we have a treaty with the Cullens." Sam said, his voice strong with authority. "Continue, Jacob."

"Carlisle Cullen said that Bella's Change was strange - she wanted me there **and** Edward - hot and cold. I left before the Change was finished, and met her at the meadow after Edward and Emmett took her hunting. Emmett's the strongest, Edward's the fastest - they went together to make sure she only fed from animals."

I took a breath. "It seems as if Bella has an unusual vampire skill - she is repulsed by the smell of human blood, and is only attracted to the blood of prey animals, not predators. Most of the other Cullens apparently feed on predators."

One more deep breath - I was almost done. "So when I met her in the meadow, she was not thirsty, and she ran up to give me a hug. When she touched me, she Phased into a wolf."

"What?" "No!" "That can't happen!" "Are you sure?" "Weird" "Bella always was unusual." "Hunh?" There were murmurs and outcries from around the rec center.

"I managed to show her how to phase back into human form, and then called Sam to come talk. Sam and Carlisle talked, and we agreed to go back and research if this has happened before, then meet again. So, has anyone heard of anything like this before?" I looked around at my friends, my brothers - the Pack. Their faces were filled with confusion.

Quil laughed, "Well, we're the pack with the oddities! I imprint on a 2 year old, and Jake is in love with a werewolf-vampire crossbreed. I wonder what will come next!"

Billy smiled, "Well, Quil, we knew about imprinting, and that had happened before. This, though," he ran his hands through his hair, "I don't remember anything like this. I need to think." Billy turned towards me, "Jake, does Bella remember you as **you**? Does she remember being human?"

"Yep." Understanding dawned, "You were worried she could be a weapon against us. I doubt it - Bella isn't as clumsy, and her diet has changed, but that's about it."

"Good." Billy smiled. "Well, we should probably break up and see what we can research. I'm guessing we're going to meet with the Cullens soon?"

"Yeah, Dad. We're meeting over there tomorrow, and your attendance is requested." I turned back to the Pack, "One more thing - when Bella is in wolf form, she can talk to anyone around her - or she could to the vampires and werewolves there. I wonder about a full human, but we could test that another time. It's a skill no one in the pack has, and none of the Cullens has. She doesn't seem to have that skill when she's in her human form."

"She's a treasure. Always so unique. I wish Charlie knew what was going on, he'd be happy for her." Billy said, mournfully.

It was hard for my dad to talk about Bella when his best friend thought his daughter was dead. I knew the Cullens would have to leave before someone noticed that Bella was still there, that would raise red flags pretty quickly. The death of the daughter of the chief of police was pretty big news. I would miss her so much when she left, I didn't know how I'd cope without her. But that would be a worry for another day - Quil and Embry were calling for me, and we went out for a run, a run I hoped would clear my head.

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**A/N:** _Sorry this took a few days to update - we just got a new-to-us dog, and it took a while to get him settled in! He's so cute and cuddly and cozy! awwww... I think his fur is as soft as werewolf fur, I want to just snuggle into it all day._

_Thanks for reading! Please review!_


	12. Coping Skills

**Chapter 12 - Coping Skills**

**Disclaimer:** _ I don't own Twilight, New Moon, or Eclipse. I just like having fun with the characters and world the wonderful Stephenie Meyer created._

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**Bella POV:**

Today has been the longest day of my life, and tomorrow would be another long day. I thought when I was human that I would be happy to not have to sleep - it was wasted time that I could have spent with Edward. But after today, I wished I could sleep, just to give myself some time to figure things out. It felt like I was swimming in thoughts - not bad and good, but good and odd.

_Finally becoming a vampire was good._

_Finding out I was also part werewolf was odd._

_Sitting in Edward's lap, good._

_Wishing I had Jake here with me too, odd._

_Having Jacob and Edward with me at the same time was good._

_Being without Edward had made me feel like I had lost part of my soul. Being without Jacob felt that way too. Definitely odd._

"Penny for your thoughts?" Edward asked, rubbing my back as I sat in his lap.

"Wishing I could sleep again, just for tonight. Too many things happened today, I think my brain went on overdrive! It won't slow down." I replied, still snuggled against him.

"I'm sorry you can't sleep." Edward frowned.

"Oh no. Nope. You don't get to do that!" I yelled and jumped out of his lap.

"What?!"

"You can't take everything I say as an attack on the fact that you Changed me. I had **asked** to be Changed. I had **begged** to be Changed. I tried to bribe your family members to Change me! And then when I'm about to die, you **do** Change me, and now you're apologizing! Give me a break!" I caught my breath, still staring straight at Edward, who was looking completely shocked.

"You go girl!" I heard Emmett say from the doorway. "That's been coming for a while. We've all been wanting to say it!"

Edward looked at me, "Have I really been that annoying?"

"Well," I hedged, not wanting to say that my boyfriend was annoying.

"Yep!" said Jasper, standing next to Emmett in the doorway.

"Absolutely!" agreed Alice and Rosalie in unison.

"You do tend to beat yourself up a lot, Edward. I know you love me, I know you wish I could have stayed human, but remember what **my** wishes were. What's done is done - you can't un-Change me, so lets get on with life." I tried to give Edward a compassionate look, but I worried he'd beat himself up more for having a fight with me. Emmett was right, this had been building for a while.

"Or un-life," came from Emmett.

"Thank you. I think I'm OK now without an audience." I shot back, still looking carefully at Edward, and waiting for a response.

"Fine. So now I'm just your dog-sitter? I can't be your cheerleader any more?" Emmett's voice held a clear pout. "Fine. I'll go. But I'm leaving Mystic here."

I laid back down on the couch, and my cuddle dog came up and snuggled her warm body next to my cold one. This felt good. Very peaceful.

"I'm sorry I've been so melodramatic, Bella. I was trying to help you, but I was really only helping myself. I need to just support you and what you're dealing with, not say I wish I had done things differently." Edward sat down next to me, and pulled me gently into his arms.

"That's exactly it, Edward. If you can just listen to me complain and say that you're sorry things are rough or that you're there for me, that's all I need. If I need advice, I'll be sure to come to you and tell you I want advice."

"You won't go to Emmett for advice?" Edward actually started to smile.

I laughed. "Nope. No advice from Emmett." I paused for a moment, as Mystic snuggled in closer, and I was surrounded by love - cold, hard love on one side, and soft, warm love on the other side. "Aaaah, this is the life. I'm so happy right now!"

"I'm so glad, love." I could hear the smile in Edward's voice. "I'm glad I worked on being with Jacob lately, I can see how much it means to you. It's hard to put almost a century of hatred aside, but you know I'll do anything for you."

I nodded.

"Jake will do anything for you, too, sweetheart." I nodded again, and he continued. "I want to know what Billy says, and what Carlisle comes up with in his research. But I have my own theory about you."

"Really? What's your theory?"

Edward took a deep breath. "I'm not sure you're going to like the answer to that question. I think your change went differently than what Alice and the Volturi expected. I think it happened like that for a reason. Remember that our human traits are carried over into our vampire selves. Your dislike of blood clearly carried over. Something else carried over, too." He looked down at me and kissed me.

I started kissing him back, forgetting what he had been talking about, as suddenly we both remembered that we could kiss more passionately now that I had been changed. Our lips and tongues moved against each other, as we stayed in a long embrace, grateful we didn't need to worry about breathing.

My hands roamed over Edward's muscled back, as his hands slipped under my shirt, feeling my skin under his hands. I shivered with enjoyment, and Edward's lips left mine to trail kisses down my throat to the curve where my neck met my collar-bone. I moaned softly, then pulled his face back to mine so we could kiss each other again. We had dated too long with chaste kisses for me to give up these amazing kisses for very long.

I knew there was more we could do, but at this point I was just so happy to be able to show Edward how much I loved him in so many ways, I didn't have to actually do it right away. After an eternity, or only a moment, we broke apart.

"I've got a request," said Edward with a smile.

"Oh, really?" I replied, wondering what the heck it could be. I wasn't ready for anything kinky...

"Do you think you could phase? I'd love to get another look at you as a wolf. I loved you in your human form, I love you in your vampire form, I want a chance to appreciate you in your wolf form."

OK, that was something I was not expecting at all. But hey, kissing had taken my mind off my worries, maybe this would as well. I stood up, taking off my clothes_ (so I wouldn't rip things and anger Alice),_ watching Edward's face with enjoyment as I did so. Then I held the picture of myself as a wolf in my mind and Phased.

"You're beautiful like this, too, love. Though if I had been human, I think my heart would have stopped when you took off your clothes." There was a bit of a smirk on Edward's face as he said that.

_If you were human, then everything would be very different._ I thought, picturing Edward in my mind as I said it and, hoping this thought would go only to him. _Can you take a picture of me like this? I want to see what I look like._

"Well, we could do that. Or you could go look in a mirror."

_D'oh!_

Edward grinned, and I could feel a wolf's grin on my own face. Mystic was rubbing against me, clearly enjoying my new form.

"Rosalie has a great mirror. She and Emmett aren't in her room, so we can go in there." Edward said, his hand moving through my fur as we walked through the hallway.

When we got into Emmett and Rosalie's room, I walked gingerly over to the mirror. I looked at myself. _Wow - is that really me? I've got great fur! I still hate my eye color, though._

"The eye color will change, love. And yes, that is you. You make a beautiful wolf. Edward knelt next to me and buried his head in my fur while I put my head on his shoulder.

_I love you._ I said, then licked him.

"Hey!" Edward objected. But I just laughed, and raced back to his, no our, room.

I realized something, and quickly Phased back and tossed on my clothes. I looked hard at Edward. "There was something you were going to say to me that you thought I wouldn't like. And then you kissed me to distract me. And then you encouraged me to phase. Was that all to distract me?"

"Bella, I love you. I love kissing you, especially since our boundaries don't need to be there for your safety any more. I love your wolf form, and I love looking at you no matter what form you are in." He cast his eyes downward. "But I did hope you would forget what I had said."

"I didn't. But I did enjoy kissing you and seeing what I look like as a wolf." I smiled up at him, and he kissed me again. "Oh no you don't! You have to talk to me."

"Fine." Edward agreed, but he didn't look happy about it. "I was talking about the human traits you brought with you into your life as a vampire. One was your aversion to blood."

"I think we've established that. What's the other one?"

"Your love for a vampire and a werewolf." Edward said, and I had no response.

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**A/N:** _Thanks for reading! Please review if you have a minute!_


	13. Wuv, Twue Wuv

**Chapter 13 - Wuv, Twue Wuv**

**A/N:**_ This was the hard one to write. It didn't lend itself to humor very well. Some of you may not be happy with this chapter. It's what I want to happen, though._

_If you want to see an Australian Cattle dog, there's a picture of my dog Jack in my profile, its my Avatar. Mystic has less black and more blue, but you get the general fuzzy idea - their fur is so much like how I imagine werewolf fur!_

**Disclaimer:** _ I don't own Twilight, New Moon, or Eclipse. I just like having fun with the characters and world the wonderful Stephenie Meyer created._

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**Bella POV:**

_love for a vampire and a werewolf_

_love for a vampire and a werewolf_ Edward's comment echoed in my head.

Did Edward know my secret? Did he know how right he was? Thoughts raced through my head again, and I couldn't catch them. It wasn't fair - I knew I had been torn between Edward and Jacob as a human, but I thought that once I was Changed the answer would be easy .. Jake wouldn't want to be near me as a vampire. But even after the Change I was still attracted to both of them, and they were both attracted to me.

Knowing that Edward couldn't read my mind, I let my thoughts drift to the stolen kisses with Jacob ... Kisses I hadn't admitted to anyone, not even myself. I wanted to shake the thoughts out of my head, but I'd probably end up with whiplash shaking my head that hard!

**Edward POV:**

_"Your love for a vampire and a werewolf."_ Did I really say that out loud? I knew that she loved me, but she also loved Jacob. She had said that she only loved him as a friend, but when he was angry with me, he would fill his mind with images of him kissing Bella. Were they real? Could someone really love two people at the same time?

Bella's silence seemed to confirm my worries. While she sat in my lap, I stroked her hair and back, thinking. I was stymied - in my over 100 years on this planet, I never learned what to do when your girlfriend is a vampire/werewolf mix who loves you (a vampire) and a werewolf. _These things would only happen in my relationship with Bella. Haven't we been through enough? We survived my stupidity when I left her, but only barely. What the heck do we do now?_

**Bella POV:**

I know that vampires didn't need to breathe, but there were some human habits that were harder to break than others. Taking deep breaths to try to calm yourself when you are anxious is one of those hard-to-break habits.

"You might be right." I finally said, looking up into Edward's beautiful topaz eyes. As what I said sunk in, I could see his eyes darken. "Wait! Please don't get upset! It isn't that I love you any less than I ever have."

It clearly wasn't enough. Edward's hand stopped stroking my hair, and his eyes had darkened considerably. "I know you love me, Bella. You know that I don't want to live without you. Our family needs to move from Forks **soon**, and we can't come back to visit. I also know that Jacob loves you, and that you love him."

I nodded, glumly. "I thought that when I turned into a vampire, my choice would be made for me - Jacob and I couldn't spend time together if we were mortal enemies." I laughed bitterly, "So of course I end up being the only vampire/werewolf mix."

"I don't want you to choose me by default." Edward said, his eyes meeting mine.

"I know, love, I know. I **do** want to be with you. Not by default, but because I can't imagine my life without you. I couldn't live without you before, and I don't want to try again." I paused.

"But you can't imagine life without _him_, either, can you?" He asked, his tone resigned.

"No." I replied, and leaned my head against his chest. "What do I do, Edward? What **can** I do? I can't stay in Forks, I'm dead. I want to leave with you, but I don't want to give up Jacob."

Edward kissed the top of my head. "I can't answer that, sweetheart. You're going to need to think about that for yourself. I wish I could help you, I really do." He looked me in the face, and I could see his beautiful crooked smile, "I think my advice might be a bit biased, though."

I smiled back. "Probably." I sat for a moment, enjoying the feeling of comfort and safety I always felt in his arms and in his scent. "I think I need to go out for a run to think."

Edward nodded. "I had a feeling you'd say that. Why don't you take Mystic and run as a wolf? You need practice in that form anyhow."

I blinked. "I figured you'd be advising me against taking that form, because it would make me closer to the werewolves."

"You are who you are, and you have the gifts you do for a reason." Edward answered. Then he smirked. "Plus, I like watching you phase into and out of wolf form."

I thwacked him, and was grateful I had Changed, because otherwise I would have hurt my hand. "You are **such** a teenaged boy!"

"Always and forever, Bella. I love you." He leaned down and kissed me deeply. I put my arms around his neck, playing with his beautiful hair, his arms were around my waist, starting to touch my skin beneath my tank top. I could have stayed like that forever, but he broke away. "You need to go for that run and think."

"You **are** trying to influence me with kisses like that!"

"I never said I'd play fair." Edward replied with a wink. "Lets go outside, you can phase, run, then call me when you come back, and I'll return your clothes."

"You're keeping my clothes hostage?" I said, pretending to be indignant.

"Yep! You have to come back here eventually." Edward smiled at me again. I loved that smile. I couldn't live without that smile. I kissed him again, not caring who came by the front porch - love overcame modesty.

"You still need to think, love. Hand over those clothes!" Edward broke away, and held out his hand.

"OK. Remember that **you** told me to do this." I said, handing him my clothes and then phasing. Edward's grin after watching me change illuminated his face. I nuzzled Edward in my wolf form, then ran into the woods with Mystic at my side.

We ran for a couple hours. We ran everywhere. It felt good to have someone by my side, I didn't feel lonely, but I felt in charge of myself - when I was with Edward or Jacob, I felt like someone was taking care of me That's nice, but sometimes I need to be in charge of my own life.

I knew that Mystic would be getting tired, even working dogs need a break! We ran to the meadow, and laid down on the cool grass under the moonlight. The night was clear, and the stars were sparkling above us. Mystic's even breathing and heartbeat soothed me as I lay in the meadow thinking about my life and my loves.

Yes, I said "my loves". I love Edward and Jacob. In different ways because they are different people, but I still love two men. Even in vampire and werewolf culture, I don't think that's considered normal. What could I do? I can't stay in La Push or Forks, because I've been declared dead. If I could stay, I'd have to give up Edward. Since I'm leaving, I will probably have to give up Jacob. Either way, my heart is breaking under the stars.

**Jacob POV:**

I woke in the middle of the night, unable to fall back asleep. I left a note for Billy on the table, and went out for a run, phasing as I left the house. I ran through the forest, taking random turns, wanting to outrun my thoughts and my feelings.

I love Bella, and she can even change into a werewolf! A beautiful, chocolate brown one at that. She doesn't smell like the other _mosquitoes_, and she's still her loving self. She's been declared dead in Forks, so she needs to leave soon. I didn't realize at the time, but when I chose to let Edward Change her, I was choosing to let her go - I need to stay with the Pack on the reservation.

I ended up at the meadow, the one that Edward and Bella find sacred - the one where Bella was changed. I walked slowly into the clearing, the moon illuminating two prone figures - one a sleeping dog with a blue tint, the other a chocolate brown wolf; the same wolf I had been trying not to think of.

_Hi Jake_, I heard in my head. Yep, it was Bella.

_Hi Bella. I couldn't sleep and went for a run, ended up here._

I could hear the echo of a laugh. _I couldn't sleep either. I thought a run would do me good. Now I'm enjoying laying on the grass, looking up at the stars and the moon._

_It's very peaceful._ I agreed.

_It's nice to see you here_, Bella said. _I was thinking about you._

I was surprised. _Really?!_

_Yes, silly._ I could hear the smile in Bella's voice. _Edward had a theory about my werewolf side._

I had been moving towards her as we were talking, and now I laid beside her. She curled against me. For a second, I couldn't think straight. _Edward has a theory?_ I managed to say.

_Yes. First you have to understand that vampire powers are usually an extension of a person's human tendencies. So, say Jasper was very empathetic as a human, and now he can feel and control the emotions of others._

_OK._ I replied, wondering where she was going with this, but loving the feeling of her body against mine, in wolf form as much as in human form.

_So. My vampire revulsion towards human blood is an extension of my dislike of blood as a human - it made me sick._

_Got it._

_So we're back to Edward's theory. _Bella said.

_I'm curious about Edward's theory._

_Edward thinks I can turn into a werewolf as a vampire because when I was Changed into a vampire, I loved a werewolf and a vampire._

No words came out of my mouth. No words could make sense in my thoughts, either. I just looked at her, and enjoyed being next to her. Bella just laid there, as thoughts raced through my mind, bumping into each other, nothing making sense.

Finally, I was able to say, _You are also loved by a vampire. And a werewolf._

_I know. And I feel torn in two. How can my heart be whole? How can I be happy?_

**Edward POV:**

As I walked into the clearing, I could hear their thoughts. Bella was telling Jacob about my theory. My heart ached knowing how much Bella loved us both, and how much we both loved her. Her thought, _How can I be happy now? _echoed through my mind.

I lay on the grass next to Bella's wolf form, on the other side of Jacob. The three of us laid there together, none of us saying anything. Finally, I broke the silence.

"I think the question is not how can you be happy, Bella. I think the question is what can Jake and I do to help you be happy."

_Hunh? What do you mean?_ asked Bella.

_That's what I was going to say._ echoed Jacob.

"It seems like we have two choices - either we break Bella's heart by forcing her to choose between us, or we find a different path that might make everyone happy."

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**A/N:** _Thanks for reading! Please review if you have a minute!_


	14. Uncharted Territories

**Chapter 14 - Uncharted Territories**

**Disclaimer:** _ I don't own Twilight, New Moon, or Eclipse. I just like having fun with the characters and world the wonderful Stephenie Meyer created._

_**A/N**__: I'm sorry I couldn't update sooner - I make and sell jewelry (link in profile), and was selling at a craft fair, so I needed to prepare for it and go. It sucks a lot of time and energy._

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**Edward POV:**

Bella put her head in my lap. _Thank you, love._

I kissed her wolf's head. "Of course, Bella. I love you. Your happiness means more to me than anything else."

_I can't believe I keep agreeing with you, Edward._ thought Jacob. _But what __**can**__ we do? Bella can't stay here, she's been declared dead. Your family needs to leave, too. I can't leave the reservation, I'm needed here._

"There must be a way to keep her happy, Jake." I replied.

I could see tears welling in Bella's wolf eyes. _Even if all that happens is this discussion, I want you both to know how much this means to me. I love you both so much, and listening to you work together to help me is wonderful. Thank you._

"Oh, Bella, of course. Ideally, I know I would love to have you to myself. I have a feeling Jacob would prefer to have you to himself, too." I could see Jake nod his head at this. "However, we both care most about your happiness. I know there is a way to work it out. We may not find the answer tonight, but we **will** work it out."

_Yet again, I'm agreeing with you, Edward._ Jacob replied, a little less reluctantly than before.

Bella lifted her head to look me in the eye. _If both of you believe that we can work it out, then I will trust you. I love and trust you both so much. Edward, I'd like to run with Jacob for a little bit, do you want to stay here or meet me at your house?_

"I'll wait here. It's pretty. And then I can run with you home." I answered, kissing her nose.

_She'll be back in a bit, Edward. Thank you for being so accommodating._ Jacob said.

I watched, schooling my expression to be accepting as the love of my life ran off with another man. Knowing she would come home with me was some comfort, but there was still a pang of jealousy as I watched her leave.

**Bella POV:**

I was astounded at how accepting Jacob and Edward were about the fact that it was impossible for me to choose between them. They were so different - like the sun and the moon. But I couldn't live fully without either one. There would be an emptiness inside me if either one was out of my life.

After Edward sweetly kissed my wolf nose, I ran with Jacob, delighting in the sheer joy of being together and running side-by-side. Jacob led me to a small shed, where he went in a wolf and came out as a man in a pair of cut-off sweats. I followed his example and found a t-shirt and cut-off sweats that almost fit.

"The grass is comfortable here, come sit by me." Jacob said, motioning me over to him.

"It's a beautiful night." I said, sitting next to him. "I feel so lucky to be out tonight with my two favorite guys. I'm so relieved and happy I can still spend time with you, even after the Change."

"Trust me, you aren't the only one who is relieved!" Jacob laughed. "I would miss you so much if you weren't a part of my life."

I smiled, embarrassed. If I had been human, I would have blushed. Jacob leaned over and kissed me. I kissed him back, relieved to feel in his intensity how much he wanted us to be together. While we kissed, I ran my hands over his hot muscular back, and he slipped his hands under my t-shirt and ran them over my cool, marbled back.

Before I could say anything about boundaries, Jacob pulled away gently. "I should let you go, Bella. I need to get a little sleep at least! Besides, we should talk about this more."

"I know. More talking. Yay. I'll let you go, but first I need one more kiss." I leaned over and kissed him, his lips sweet and warm on mine. We parted, and I went into the shed to phase into a wolf. Jake kissed my nose, as Edward had done before, and I ran back to the meadow.

Edward was waiting for me in our meadow, and we ran together back to the Cullens house. I could hear that Esme was talking to Carlisle about what where they should move, Emmett and Rosalie were having "fun", as were Jasper and Alice - I think it's likely that Jasper got "in the mood" when Emmett and Rosalie's lust ran strong. It was nice, though, to go up to our room undisturbed.

When we walked in, I saw that Alice had laid out pajamas for both of us, and Edward sat patiently on the bed waiting for me to phase and change into the pajamas. I obliged, but used almost-vampire speed. "Now it's your turn," I said, once I was changed and dressed.

"OK," he replied, startling me. Our iron-clad boundaries from before my Change were clearly, um, changing. Edward kept his boxers on while he changed, but seeing all of his muscular body at once was overwhelming. He was like a marble statue of Apollo, and he was **mine**!

"Mmmmm... So, what do you want to do for the rest of the night?" I asked, smiling.

"I think Alice wants us to go to bed," Edward said, with that adorable crooked smile on his face.

"That might very well be a good idea."

We found a copy of one of my favorite movies, "The Princess Bride", and laid down on the bed to watch it on the TV opposite us. Edward put his arm around me, and held me tightly to him. Soon, I maneuvered into his lap, and he was holding my hand, teasing me with gentle strokes on my palm and fingers while my hand played with his beautiful bronze hair.

When the ROUS attacked in Wesley and Buttercup in the Fire swamp, I wrapped my arms around him tightly, and hid my head against his chest. I could feel him shaking with silent laughter, but then I looked up at his face, and he looked down at mine, and we kissed. Suddenly the movie disappeared from my consciousness.

I was worried it would be awkward to kiss Edward after having kissed Jacob, but it wasn't. The kisses were so different, and the men so different. Jacob was filled with fire and intensity. Edward was cool and gentle. Now that I had been Changed, our rigid boundaries had changed as well.

Edward's lips parted, and his tongue gently parted mine. After what seemed like an eternity of closed-mouth kisses, I felt euphoric playing with each others tongues and exploring. Eventually, Edward left my mouth, and kissed down my neck to the hollow between neck and collarbone, licking gently along the way. I shivered with delight, then pulled his mouth back to mine, moaning into his mouth.

We maintained many boundaries as we spent the rest of the night making out, not wanting to hurry anything, wanting to enjoy every millimeter of each other. Our kissing, caressing, and exploring felt so special, and we both reveled in being able to spend so much time together without interruption or threat of Charlie coming into the room.

**Jacob POV:**

After kissing Bella, I phased back and ran home. The run helped clear my head, all I had wanted to do was continue kissing her until the world ended. However, if we were going to make this relationship work, I couldn't only think of myself. It rankled me to be **fair** to a bloodsucker, but since he was being fair to me, I couldn't in good conscience play dirty.

The run succeeded in clearing my head. As I moved farther away from the meadow, I started to think more clearly. When I was close to my house, Sam called to me, so I detoured to his home. Thankfully, he keeps some shorts on his back porch for situations like this!

"Jake." Sam said, when I arrived.

"Hi Sam. You called to me - is everything OK?"

"Everything is fine here. I have something important to ask you about, and I needed to do it when the rest of the Pack wasn't around. I was happy to find you running alone tonight." Sam looked serious, very Alpha Wolf, not the usual playful side he showed when we weren't fighting.

"Of course. I'm here and curious to hear what you need to say." I replied.

"I got a call from another tribe. They have the old legends about the Spirit Warriors and the Cold Ones too, but no one remembers the wolves. They had heard about our group from some other tribes, and are asking us for help."

"I'm happy to help them, if that's what you need and they want. They must be having trouble if they don't have anyone to guide them!" I said, startled at the idea.

"Yes. The young werewolves are a bit out of control, plus the tribe's big business is cattle ranching, so a gang of young, out-of-control werewolves isn't a great idea. I'm going to need you to move there. You're an Alpha, and if you move, you can be Alpha of that Pack. You won't always be happy as second-in-command, Jake." Sam looked at me, and it felt like he could see inside me.

At first I was nervous. And then excited. And then proud. Then sad and worried. Such a mix of emotions. I could be an Alpha without fighting Sam! I could leave the reservation, giving me a chance to be with Bella long-term! I would have to leave Billy and all my friends, though.

"You're the Alpha, Sam. If you tell me it's best for the tribe, I'll do it. I want to help them, and I'd like to be Alpha. I worry about Billy, though. I'm sad to leave the Pack, as well. But who am I helping? And where are they?" I blurted everything out at once, knowing Sam would weed through my thoughts and distill it down.

"The Pack will make sure Billy is fine. You should invite him to come with you, but I know he won't. It's possible that you could visit us, or we could visit you when things settle down, plus there are other ways of keeping in touch. You could never lose your friends from the pack." Sam replied.

I realized he had skipped two questions. "Who am I helping? You didn't mention where they were, either."

"Oh, yes. Well, this is a tribe that was merged together when the reservations were formed. The portion of the new tribe that has werewolf blood is the part that was once called the Kapota tribe." Sam replied.

"Where will I be living?" I asked, yet again.

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**A/N:** _Thanks for reading! Please review if you have a minute!_


	15. Promised Land

**Chapter 15 - Promised Land**

**Disclaimer:** _**I don't own Twilight, New Moon, or Eclipse. I just like having fun with the characters and world the wonderful Stephenie Meyer created.**_

_**A/N: **__Since Bella has admitted her love for both Edward and Jacob (something she doesn't do in the Twilight series), her actions might very well be considered OOC. However, this is how __**I**__ think she'd act if she DID admit to those feelings. Poetic license, OK? And please remember that this is all in fun!_

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**Jacob POV:**

"You'll be moving to the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation, which is usually called the U & O Reservation. The tribe that has had the smaller tribes mixed into it is the Utes. So you'll be living in Northeast Utah." Sam replied.

I blinked. "Utah?"

"Yes. There's a large reservation, plus a National Forest nearby. You'll be going to Fort Duchesne, Utah, and meeting with the Tribe Elder, Parker Sawok. You'll need to work out details about the werewolves and the new problem they have with Cold Ones with him." Sam replied.

"They have a problem with Cold Ones?" I asked, startled.

"Yes. Apparently a coven of red-eyed Cold Ones has settled near the National Forest, which triggered the werewolf resurrection."

"How soon do you need me to leave?"

"As soon as possible. Within the next few days - it is quite urgent that the new werewolves get control. The cattle ranchers are Not Happy." Sam answered.

"OK. I'll pack up and say my goodbyes. I need to get some sleep first, though," I replied, saluting Sam. We said our goodbyes, and I walked toward my house.

Wow. Utah. That's far away. But if the red eyed vampires could live in that area, maybe Bella could, too? I needed to call her to tell her about this change, but at this point it was 3 AM, and I needed sleep more than anything else.

**Edward POV:**

My time with Bella that night was so special. We still kept some boundaries intact, relishing each moment, each bit of skin. I loved everything about her, and it felt so special to be able to touch her more, not worrying about hungering for her or breaking her. After a long while, I gently broke away.

"I think we missed the rest of the movie." I said, smiling down at her beautiful face.

"We've seen it a few times, I think we'll be OK. What we were doing was far more entertaining." Bella smiled, and looked as if she was going to bush. It's too bad that vampires can't blush - that was always so cute.

"We need to think about where we're going to move." I said. "Let's grab the atlas, I can show you were we already have houses."

"But I know where we should live!" Bella replied, a mischievous grin on her face.

"Really? Where?" I asked, confused. How did she know where she wanted to live already?

"Well, if we're going to live together, all 3 of us as a polygamist family, we clearly need to move to Utah." Bella grinned, and we both started laughing.

My cell phone rang, and I tried to stamp down the giggling when I answered, not looking at the Caller ID. "Hello?"

"Hi Edward, it's Jake. Listen, I just got transferred - another tribe needs me to take over as Alpha and teach them how to be in-control. There's a group of young werewolves on a reservation with cattle ranchers." Jake said.

"Young werewolves and cattle ranchers? Could you get a worse combination? If you're moving, that will help me and Bella decide where to live, too - we need to live close to you." I managed to say it all without sounding snide or jealous. I felt Bella's hand on my arm as I worked to keep calm - I would make this work for her sake, no matter what. "So, where is it?"

"It's the U & O Reservation, in Northeast Utah."

"Utah?"

"Yep, Utah." Jake confirmed.

With that, Bella and I collapsed into a fit of giggles. Jake hung up on us, but we couldn't stop laughing to call him back.

-------------------------

Emmett interrupted our laugh-fest to ask if he could take Mystic out for some "exercise". I looked at his thoughts to make sure the dog would be safe, but he was thinking only of taking a run. I nodded discretely to Bella, and she OK'd it.

"Now that we've calmed down a bit, we should play with poor Stripes! He keeps getting ignored while Mystic gets all the attention." Bella said.

"Now that I'm not worried about you getting bitten by him, that does sound like a good idea." I replied, and we took Stripes down from his box. Tarantulas feel funny on your skin!

**Jacob POV:**

What the heck were they playing at? Why were they laughing at me? All I did was tell them where I had to move, and they started laughing at me! This was not fair. I thought we were going to spend time together.

Annoyed, I sent a text message to Edward's phone - Bella always lost hers. _Meadow 8 2nite._

I didn't get an instant reply, but after a while I got: _Will tell joke there. Sorry._

That was better. I didn't like how jealous I was feeling about simply being on the outside of an inside joke. This whole sharing-Bella thing would work better if she wasn't living with the _mosquito_.

I called Parker Sawok to get directions and more information.

"Hello?" a voice answered.

"Hello, my name is Jacob Black. I'm looking for Parker Sawok?"

"This is he. I spoke to Sam about you - I expected you to sound younger."

I smiled, "Sometimes you end up looking and feeling older than you are. I wanted to talk to you about ..."

Parker cut me off. "About the situation out here? Why yes, when will you be able to come into the office? Some talks are better handled in person."

I was surprised, but recovered quickly. "I'll be leaving tonight. I have a meeting here that I can't miss, and then I'll be on my way. Can you give me directions?"

"I'm rather busy now dealing with some local issues. Get a map and head southeast. Quickly. When you get closer, call and I'll tell you where we can meet. I look forward to meeting you."

"Thank you for your time, sir. I'll be there as soon as I can." I answered, and hung up. I couldn't quite believe I was changing my life for a man who could be that short-tempered with someone he didn't even know. Well, it was my job as an Alpha to do what was best for the pack. It didn't matter that the elder was a twit.

I spent the day packing and saying goodbye to the Pack and my friends on the reservation. It was really hard to say goodbye to Billy, but I promised I'd call him a lot. Charlie came over to say goodbye, and said that he'd keep an eye out for Billy, just like Billy was keeping an eye on him. That made me feel a lot better.

I drove the Rabbit to the road that dead ended a few miles from the meadow, and left my bag there. I phased and carried a pair of shorts in my mouth, running to the meadow, excited and anxious at the same time.

**Bella POV:**

"Edward! It's almost time to meet Jake! We need to get going!" I called. Edward was pacing around the house, and I was starting to get annoyed.

"We can't leave yet, Bella. He isn't back yet." Edward replied, cryptically.

"Hunh? I don't understand. Who isn't back yet?"

"Emmett. He isn't back yet with Mystic. If he was only going for a run, he should've been back a long time ago. I'm worried for her."

I walked up to him and grabbed him by the collar to kiss him, hard. "You are so sweet to be so protective of my dog. I love you. I wish you could be a father, you would be wonderful."

I saw a smile escaping from Edward's lips. "Thank you, love. OK, we can go to the meadow now. I'm sure Mystic and Emmett are fine. I am probably over-reacting."

"Hey, I didn't say you were over-reacting! This is Emmett we're talking about. But we still need to get to the meadow soon. We can catch up to Emmett and Mystic after we've talked to Jacob." I grabbed his hand, and pulled him out of the house.

We ran together, fast even for vampires, to the meadow, making it just in time.

I saw Jacob there, lounging against a tree, dressed only in a pear of cut-off sweats. Mmmmmm... He looked wonderful, but worried, too. I let go of Edward's hand and walked over to Jake.

"I'm so sorry we laughed, Jake! We weren't laughing at you, I promise." Jake looked up at me, and I crouched down. "I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings." I said softly, and kissed him gently. The worry started to fade from his face.

"So, what **was** so funny about me saying I needed to help out at the Ute reservation in Utah?" Jake asked, as I sat down and Edward sat on my other side.

"Bella and I had just been talking about where we could move. I was ready to bring out an atlas, and Bella said no, she knew where we should live if we were going to live as polygamists - Utah! We had started laughing about that stereotype when you called saying we **were** going to move to Utah!" Edward explained, his crooked smile on his face.

I elbowed Jake, "I told you, we weren't laughing at you, we were laughing near you."

Jacob laughed, then caught his breath. "So, you guys are willing to move to Fort Duchesne, Utah? I did check it out, and there's a big National Park nearby. I don't know about sunny days versus overcast, but with the forest nearby it might be easier."

I nodded. "Of course we'll move with you. We needed to move anyhow. This just gives us a location. A nearby National Park is fabulous - we'll figure everything else out when we get there."

"We won't be doing the high school thing for now," Edward said. "We need to figure out more about how Bella can handle herself around humans. I'd like to have us stay under the radar, but if there are werewolves nearby, they might very well smell us."

"We're also dealing with a few non-"vegetarian" vampires out there, so I might need your help dealing with that. A new pack is no match for a seasoned vampire."

"Well, that is bigger than the cattle. If Emmett hasn't permanently scarred Mystic with whatever he's doing with her, she'd be great with herds of cattle..." Edward's voice trailed off. "Sorry, I lost my train of thought. Anyhow, I know we can't stay under the radar of the local Pack, but if we stay under the radar of the humans, that would be good."

"Well, lets see how well that can work. We'll need to live somewhere, and unless they're going to pay me for being Alpha, I'll need a job so I can buy food for myself." I could hear as Jake started to worry about the details.

"No worrying now!" I interrupted. "Tonight is for fun. Tomorrow we will deal with reality. But tonight we should have fun."

"But I need to leave for Utah tonight!" Jake protested.

"Nah. We can get an SUV tomorrow, and if I'm driving it will take a fraction of the time." Edward said. "I vote for a last night of relaxing."

"I second the motion!" I answered.

"I'll agree if you two insist." Jake caved.

"Yay! motion carried! I win!" I ran laps around them, intermittently kissing them both. I was filled with joy - this was going to be a very good life!

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**A/N:** _Thanks for reading! Please review if you have a minute! Ideally, please don't flame me or anything. Remember, poetic license._

_additional disclaimer: some of my good friends are polyamorists, and some of my good friends live in Utah. There's no overlap there, though. I know no actual polygamists or polyamorists in Utah - I'm having fun with a stereotype. The reservation and everything are real, though._


	16. Movin' on out

**Chapter 16 - Movin' on out**

**Disclaimer:** _**I don't own Twilight, New Moon, or Eclipse. I just like having fun with the characters and world the wonderful Stephenie Meyer created.**_

_**A/N:**__I got a review asking about a few things, so I wanted to explain - Polygamy is when you are married to more than one person. Polyamory is when you love more than one person at a time. Utah was founded by Mormons who, at that time, practiced polygamy. Polygamy is now not allowed by the Mormon church, though there are small groups of off-shoots from the Mormon church that continue to practice Polygamy. /end long AN._

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**Bella POV:**

Whatever fun we might have had that night together was interrupted soon after I sat down after my laps around Edward and Jacob - Emmett returned with a very scared and submissive looking Mystic. Her tail was tucked under her legs and she was shaking.

"What the heck did you do to my dog?" I asked Emmett, pulling Mystic into my lap, where she huddled against me.

"You said I could take her for a run!" Emmett answered, sounding defensive.

"OK, but she's never come back from a run looking like this. What's up?" I asked.

"We didn't **just** go for a run." Emmett admitted, looking pained by the admission.

"What. Did. You. Do?" I said slowly, gritting my teeth.

"I thought that while we were running I could quickly grab a snack, so I took her for a run deeper into the forest."

"What happened, Emmett?" Edward interjected, sounding incredibly frustrated. I guessed that Emmett was blocking his thoughts somehow.

"There was a bear nearby, and he was really too close to civilization for it to be safe. Since he would end up shot anyhow, I figured he could be my dinner instead. Mystic barked when I was approaching the bear, and he charged toward her before I took him down. It seems to have scared her quite a bit. I had to carry her for part of the way back." Emmet said, his eyes looking at the grass, not at us.

"Let me get this straight." I said, wanting to make sure I wasn't over-reacting. You asked if you could take Mystic for a run, and I said OK. You didn't just take her for a run, you took her **hunting**, and then seem surprised when she is scared by a **bear**. Am I right?"

"That's not how I'd put it. But yeah, that's what happened." I don't think I had ever seen Emmett look so sheepish.

"NO MORE DOG RUNS. Period. You're grounded, buddy." I wanted to shout, but I didn't want to scare Mystic further, so it came out stern.

"But, but, but she loves me! She loves going for runs with me!"

"She did, yes. But now I'm going to have to work with her to keep her calm, we'll see if you can have a chance to play with her and show me you can be trusted. I'm really glad she wasn't hurt, Emmett. You don't want to see how pissed off I'd be then."

"OK, Bella. I'll go home now Bella. Can I do anything for you, Bella?" Emmett looked so sad.

"Can you tell Carlisle and Esme that Edward and I are moving to Northeast Utah, and see if there's somewhere reasonably close where everyone can live? You owe me big after traumatizing my dog - this is a do it and ask questions later thing." I answered, figuring someone else could Google locations as well as I could, and I needed to pack.

"Yep. I'll ask questions later." And with that, Emmett ran off. I admit I was rather surprised he didn't put up a big fight about asking questions later. He looked like he would balk when I first said something, but then he agreed.

Mystic stayed curled around me, needed my protection. Jacob and Edward scootched closer to me so we could continue talking.

"So, Jacob - what do we know about the situation in Fort Duchesne and the reservation? It would be good for us to know what we're getting into. Plus, do they know you're bringing a vampire and a vampire/werewolf hybrid?" Edward asked. Of course, Edward would keep focused on the details.

"My contact is a guy named Parker Sawok, he's one of the members of the tribal council for the Ute tribe at the U & O reservation. The Ute tribe is really made up of several smaller tribes that were all moved onto one reservation by the US government."

"OK, so is it one of the subsets that's got the werewolf spirit guides, or all of them?" I asked, curious. I didn't know if werewolf spirit guides were a normal part of the Native Americans across the US or if it was specific to certain smaller tribes.

"It's just one - the Kapota tribe members. They're starting to have a few teenage boys transforming, and because of the way the tribes are separated and yet mixed together, there's no clear alpha. Without a clear alpha, they can run amok. Add cattle ranching on the reservation, and you get a big mess."

"I don't think it would be easy to get a **worse** way of starting new werewolves!" I said. Edward rolled his eyes at me - he may accept Jacob right now, but he never thought there was any good way of creating werewolves, ever.

"Yeah, It's not a good scene. I wanted to get a more clear picture, but the Sawock guy didn't want to talk on the phone. He said he'd talk when we got closer, just to head southeast."

"That's **so** helpful." Edward said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "We're moving there to help him, and he can't even talk to you on the phone for a few minutes? He must be more charismatic in person if he's on the tribal council. Or he's so worried that he sounded rude without meaning to be rude."

"Oh, I hadn't thought of that," admitted Jacob. "He probably was short and vague with me because he is worried about what's going on. He just wanted me to get there quickly."

"That does sound smart." Edward agreed. "I was thinking we should get an SUV, but we'd be OK arriving there in the volvo, and getting an SUV for the Utah terrain once we get there. Jake, if you can hang with Mystic, Bella and I will go pack. If you can help Mystic run for a short bit, then bring your Rabbit over to our house, and transfer your stuff from the Rabbit to the Volvo. We can leave in an hour or two at the most."

"Hey, what happened to our night of relaxing." I asked, almost completely kidding.

"If the tribal elder wants us there quickly, we need to leave ASAP. Now that we know more about what's up, it's clearer what we need to do." Edward replied.

"I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought it was necessary to move quickly." Jacob said, a wave of relief passing over his face. "I think we've been on borrowed time here in this area anyhow - Bella's been declared dead, she can't be spotted."

"You're right. OK - lets go pack. I don't want to be spotted, and if we leave at night then no one in the area will notice the Volvo leaving. The rest of the family can figure something to say and catch up with us soon." I said, and stood up. Mystic was still huddled by my legs.

Jake called Mystic, and she was happy to run to him, barking happily. Jake went into the brush to phase, and as soon as he came out as a russet wolf, Edward and I nodded to him and ran to the Cullen house.

Carlisle and Esme met us at the door. "What's going on?" Esme asked.

I looked at Edward, and he nodded and started speaking. "Right now, Bella's dual nature has us linked with Jacob." Carlisle nodded, but Esme looked surprised. "Jacob has been sent out to the U & O Reservation near Fort Duchesne, Utah. The tribe's needing some help with a combination of newborn vampires, young werewolves with no alpha, and cattle ranchers. Jake **is** an alpha, he's just never wanted to challenge Sam. So he's been transferred out there. I know how to deal with newborns, and Bella has a cattle dog, so hopefully we can help out a bit. We'll have to see what happens once Jacob meets with the tribal leader. He was quite vague over the phone."

"Thank you for that explanation. It makes a lot of sense. I can tell the rest of the family, as they went off to hunt at my suggestion - I had a feeling Jacob would be coming here, and I didn't want a scene." Carlisle replied.

"I looked near Fort Duchesne, and since the rest of the family needs to steer clear of the reservation, there's a pretty big boundary we're trying to avoid. I did find a lovely little town called Dinosaur, Colorado. Colorado is an easier state to trick with IDs than Utah, thanks to the Mormon interest in genealogy. We'll go scope out that area after we pack up this house. I hope we can come back in 75 years or so - we'll leave things covered up in case anyone has to come back sooner." Esme said.

"We need to pack so we can leave soon." I said, loving how Esme took care of everyone, but needing to Just Get It Done!.

"Of course, dear. Take what you can, either Alice, Rosalie, or I can take whatever you need to leave behind."

"Thanks Esme. Do you think someone can arrange to get Jacob's car shipped down? We're taking the Volvo, but he's going to want his car. I wish I could have my truck, but it would be better if I just got another one since mine is parked at Charlie's house."

"I think you're right, Bella. It would be suspicious if someone stole your truck, but didn't touch any of our cars. We need to have some of our cars transported, so we'll just toss Jacob's car on there too. No problem."

"Thank you so much!" I hugged Esme, and could feel that I would have cried, had I been able to.

I popped open my MacBook, and hooked it up to the printer, plugging in directions for a trip from Forks, Washington to Fort Duchesne, Utah. Yikes, 1,128 miles! It's supposed to take 18 hours, but it will likely take less since Edward's driving. He couldn't go too fast until we got onto the I-90, but then we would be going over 100 miles on that. There was a LOT of highway changing, so I made sure to print out the directions **and** leave them open on the laptop so I could double check the maps as we were driving.

While the maps and directions printed, I started packing my stuff - a duffle bag filled with clothes (thank goodness Alice wasn't there to sneak in lingerie and supermodel clothes!), a crate of pictures, scrapbooks, sketchbooks, and other memories. Plus a garment bag of some dresses - just in case I needed to look dressy for something before the rest of the Cullens could arrive. I needed one more crate for Stripes & his gear, as well as Mystic's food and gear. Then I was all set. Thank goodness a Volvo trunk was big!

I put my stuff on the front porch, only to see Edward's next to mine. My essentials versus his were hysterical. I wanted to make sure I had my laptop, a small sketchbook, and an iPod in my "carryon" type bag. Edward's was stuffed with CDs. My clothes appeared to take up much less space than his, too. I rolled my eyes at my boyfriend, but he caught me.

"I'm going to get that look off your face!" Edward said, smiling.

"Oh yeah, how?" I teased, still pretending annoyance.

And then he kissed me - hard. He was right - I didn't feel annoyed about his packing style when he kissed me like that. I think I heard a growl from me! But then I **did** hear gravel crunching under tires, and I broke away from the kiss just before Mystic and Jacob turned the corner on the driveway and approached the house.

Edward brought the Volvo to the front of the house, and we easily loaded everything into the trunk. We each kept our little carryon bags (although I'd argue against Edward's being "little") for the car ride, and Jake had the crate with pet supplies for the back seat - Mystic would be traveling in the back with Jake, and Edward had put a nice fleece throw across her side of the back seat. The fleece was supposed to be comfortable for Mystic, but I knew it was to protect his nice leather seats.

"Thank you for everything Carlisle, Esme. Please give my love to the rest of the family. I look forward to seeing all of you soon!" I said, hugging them both.

"Dinosaur, Colorado is less than 60 miles from Fort Duchesne, so we'll be seeing you a lot, dear. Don't you worry!" Esme said, giving me a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "We'll miss you both until we can have our family together, though."

Edward said goodbye to his parents, and we got into the Volvo and started our drive to Utah.

If anyone had told me 6 months ago I would be sitting in a Volvo, driving to Utah to live with the two men I loved - because of which I was a vampire/werewolf hybrid, I would have said they were insane. Now I was in the car with Edward and Jake, plus Mystic and Stripes. Life can be stranger than fiction! I know this trip will be long, I just hope we're all still able to stand when we get to Utah!

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**A/N:** _Thanks for reading! Please review if you have a minute! Ideally, please don't flame me. This is also one of the last chapters - I just need to get them settled in Utah. I need to be finished before Halloween, I'm writing a novel in November for NaNoWriMo dot org._


	17. Road Trip!

**Chapter 17 – Road Trip!**

**Disclaimer:** _**I don't own Twilight, New Moon, or Eclipse. I just like having fun with the characters and world the wonderful Stephenie Meyer created.**_

_**A/N: **__Sorry this was delayed - a combination of chronic illness, head cold, specialists, and Halloween prep has taken over my life. I wish I could escape into a story!_

_But YAY! 3/3 stories updated today!_

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**Jacob POV:**

Intellectually I know that it makes the most sense for me to sit in the back of the car with Mystic - dogs get along together. Plus, she and I needed sleep and the other two didn't. finally, Edward could drive FAST, and I couldn't drive that fast.

However, it **felt** like the longest, most deranged road trip ever. I used Mystic as an excuse to stop so that I could get out of the car and get a Coke or some food. I should've packed more food - I forgot that Edward and Bella wouldn't need to stop, so I felt guilty asking for a trip through a fast food place, anything that took us off the road to get to Utah.

Edward's driving made it difficult to appreciate the scenery. I did see enough from Washington to Utah to know that I'd like to drive through again. Once we settled in, we'd only be an hour (the way normal people drive) from Colorado, and I had heard a lot of cool stuff about Colorado.

_I'm so nervous about this! I know I have the Alpha traits, but I've never __**been**__ the Alpha! I've always left that to Sam. Heck, I was __**happy**__ to leave that to Sam! Now I need to:_

_A: Teach a pack of new werewolves how to control themselves, especially how not to phase at random and how to keep themselves from scaring the cattle_

_B: Teach that pack of werewolves how to fight_

_C: Teach the werewolves that not all vampires are evil, and I'm not a traitor because I hang out with a werewolf/vampire hybrid and a "vegetarian" vampire_

_D: Teach the werewolves about red-eyed vamps and amber-eyed vamps._

_E: Kill the red-eyed vamps_

_That sounds like an exciting to do list. yeesh. I feel overwhelmed already. I think I'll sleep while I can..._

I was really glad that Edward had left my thoughts alone - before this whole thing with Bella had blown up, he had always made snide comments about my thoughts. Now he only said something when a thought was directed at him or when I was in wolf form. It was nice. Of course, I wasn't being snide any more, so that was probably a part of it.

I woke up a few hours later, still feeling overwhelmed, but at least I was well-rested and overwhelmed rather than sleep-deprived and overwhelmed.

"Hey, you're awake!" Bella said, smiling at me.

"Yeah. I think I needed that sleep. I've got far too much to do when we get to Utah." I replied.

"Sorry to tell you this, Jake, but we **are** in Utah. You've still got some time, though, the reservation is on the opposite side of the state." Edward said.

"I'm sure you heard my thoughts before I fell asleep, Edward. Any ideas on what I should do?" I said, I couldn't quite believe I was asking _him_ for advice.

"Let's review them so Bella can think about them too. She's pretty smart." Edward said. Both of us looked at her with goofy smiles. She whacked us both on the head with a map.

"Get a room, guys!" Bella teased. "But yeah, tell me what's in your head, and maybe we can help."

So I explained problems A-E to Bella and Edward. Even if they didn't help me at all, it felt good to share the problem with someone else.

"I wouldn't worry about problem E right now." Bella said. "Edward and I can tell them they have awakened a group of werewolves - just knowing that might get them to leave the area, which would would stop new werewolves from cropping up."

"Good point, love." Edward said. "I'd work on A & B first. They need to stay away from the cattle or the reservation's livelihood could be jeopardized. Since Bella doesn't seem like a werewolf nor a vampire, she might be able to get a job with Mystic helping with the cattle. She could wolf occasionally to help you, too - both to protect the cattle and to teach the new pups how to fight."

"Thanks, guys. that does help a lot. You're both right - I can't deal with everything at once, but if I work at them slowly, things will fall into place. I'm not that worried about Bella being near the res, she doesn't smell all vampy." I saw Edward roll his eyes at my word choice, but whatever. "But I'm not sure what we should do with you, Edward." I continued. "I don't want the new wolves to attack you, mostly for the sake of their own hide, but still..."

"Mostly?" Edward teased with a crooked smile. "Bella and I were talking about that. For right now it makes sense to get a house near the reservation, you and Bella can go back and forth to the res, but I stay put in the house, unless it's dark and people won't notice me. I hate to do it, but we need to do what's best for our little pack/coven. Having me show up right when they are preparing to do war with other vampires would be bad news. I don't really want to fight off a whole pack of new, over-enthusiastic werewolves. I can get out of the house for hikes and go hunting at night."

"It would be even better if we could find a house with a couple acres around it," Bella said. "That way we could have a little privacy, and no one would know if you were there or not."

"Let's see what's there when we look for a house." I said. Edward and Bella nodded, and the trip continued.

When we got close to Fort Duchesne, we pulled over at a rest stop, let everyone (including Mystic) stretch their legs, got some food for me to eat, and then I swapped seats with Edward.

Once we were moving again, I called Parker Sawock. "Hello, Mr. Sawock? This is Jacob Black calling."

"Hello Jacob. One moment." I could hear him crossing a room and shutting a door. "You're on your way, then?" he asked.

"Actually, I'm on Route 40, so I'm not too far away. I was able to reschedule that evening meeting so I could get down here as soon as I could."

"Thank goodness, young man! We are eagerly awaiting your arrival! When do you think you'll get here?" He sounded completely thrilled.

"Should be within the hour, if all goes well." I replied. I do need to know where to go when I get there, and where the local library is. My girlfriend wants to look for a house while I'm meeting with you." Bella's eyes brightened, and she smiled at me as she heard me call her my girlfriend. Edward didn't growl, so I took that as an improvement.

"If you take a right off 191, you'll go right through the center of Fort Duchesne. My office is in the town hall on your left. I'm the town clerk in addition to being a tribal elder. The library is across the street from the town hall. We're a small town, but we still have wireless internet in our library." He sounded very proud, so I guessed that this was a new development.

"That sounds perfect, sir. I look forward to meeting you." I clicked the phone shut, and we continued the monotonous drive.

**Edward POV:**

We have been lucky - since the sun has come up today, it's been overcast. Jacob wouldn't be able to pass Bella off as his girlfriend _(and part of me ached to hear him call her that)_ if the sun had been out. As much as I disliked hiding for the beginning of our mission here in Utah, it did make sense. It had the added bonus that on the days Bella wasn't on the reservation with Jacob, she'd be staying in the house with me.

When Jacob called Bella his girlfriend on the phone, I could see her eyes light up, and her smile brighten her face. As if she knew that this would hurt me to hear, she snaked her hand behind her seat, and squeezed my knee, then held my hand. It was reassuring to have Bella want to ease my anxiety.

I knew how much Bella loved both of us, but I also knew that creating a life together wouldn't be easy. It was probably best that I would be looking for the vampires, and Jacob teaching the new pups, because if we were all just stuck in the house together we'd all go crazy.

Our road trip was almost over. Bella made sure she had Mystic's leash, and she grabbed an extra blanket to throw over me. It made sense to have extra blankets in a car with a dog. As we turned off the highway, I lowered myself onto the floor of the back seat and let Bella tuck in the blanket. Mystic seemed to find this amusing, and instantly sat on my chest, the silly dog.

"We're at the town hall," Bella whispered, and she took Mystic out of the car to take her for a quick walk before she went across to the library. All the windows were cracked a couple inches so Mystic could get air when she came back in. My job was to listen to what the local folks were saying while Bella looked for houses and Jacob met with the man from the Tribal Council.

Our road trip was over. Now to start our new lives together.

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**A/N:** _Thanks for reading! Reviews make me so happy!_

_I'm going to see how far I can take this story before Halloween, my self-imposed deadline since I'm writing a novel in November. I'd like to have fun with the local werewolves and the vampire, but it will depend on what the next few days are like here._


	18. Arrival

**Chapter 18 - Arrival**

**Disclaimer: **_** I don't own Twilight, New Moon, or Eclipse. I just like having fun with the characters and world the wonderful Stephenie Meyer created.**_

_**A/N: **__This was written (all 3,00 words!) while sick. Head cold + cold meds + existing pain meds someone confused person. I'm hoping it makes sense to someone other than me!_

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**Bella POV:**

Traveling in a car for almost 10 hours with two men you adore, but who don't exactly adore each other is interesting. Or crazy-making. Lots of placating and platitudes. I felt guilty for being glad Jacob slept so I could just hold Edward's hand and enjoy the thrills I got when he kissed my fingers.

Now that we had arrived in Utah, my job was to find us a place to live. I don't think I had realized how few houses were for sale in Fort Duchesne. I'm guessing once people settle here they don't want to leave. Looking around the "downtown", I couldn't understand this concept, but Forks grew on me, and it's likely this place would, too. This felt like one of those towns where if you blink, you'll miss it.

I need to change this thinking! I remember how much I dreaded moving to Forks, and look how that ended up! At least the weather is nicer here. Oh, we're finally at the town!

"Bella, I'm going into the town hall. The Elder said that the place across the street is the library. I wouldn't get too many hopes up about the number of books, though - the town only has around 1,000 people in it." Jacob said, pulling into a parking space.

"No worries. I can always get books from Amazon. Right now I just need to walk Mystic and then use the internet in the library." I replied.

I got out of the car and snapped Mystic's leash on her. Once the doors were closed, Jake walked with me and Mystic for a minute. I was about to ask him why he wasn't off with the tribal elder when he took my cool hand in his hot one. I looked up, and he had pulled me close to him, and we were kissing.

"Mmmmmm," I moaned. A moment later I pulled away reluctantly. "You need to go in for your meeting, and I need to find us somewhere to live."

"You're always the voice of reason, Bella," Jake said. He kissed me again, but more quickly, then walked up the stairs to the town hall.

I brought Mystic back to the car and made sure she was comfortable with a bowl of water. Then I snuck into the back seat. "Hey sweetie. You OK under the blanket?" I asked, my voice lower than what humans could hear."

"Yes, I'm fine." Edward answered politely, but I could hear his martyr voice in his tone.

"I know you want to be out here with me, but it'll be OK soon. We'll have a hotel room and a house soon. I need to go look for the house while Jacob is inside."

Edward pulled the fleece off his face, and I was so grateful the Volvo had tinted windows - I melted looking at his butterscotch eyes. "Can I have a goodbye kiss before you go into the library all alone?" he asked.

"You have but to ask," I said, in my best princess voice. I leaned over and kissed him. Now that I was changed, our kisses could become more intimate, and he took advantage of that, kissing me gently, but lovingly. I wanted to melt into him.

As with my kiss with Jacob, I had to pull away long before my body wanted. "I have to go try to find us a place to live!" I said, and got in one last quick kiss before I grabbed my laptop and left the car for the library.

As I walked across the street with my MacBook, I thought about the differences between my two boyfriends. I loved them both so much, maybe because they were so different? They were both loving and attentive, but their personality differences showed in everything they did. Jacob's kisses were hot - filled with love, lust, and heat. He wanted everything **now**, and his kisses were exactly like that. Edward's kisses were filled with a gentle passion, a softness that comes with knowing he has eternity. Edward still wanted just as much as Jacob did, he was just more willing to wait. At least when Jasper wasn't with us egging him on!

"Hello miss, may I help you?" asked the librarian at the front desk.

"Hello, my name's Bella. I'm moving into town and wanted to get to know the library. I was also hoping to use the wireless internet, if that's OK."

"Of course you may use the internet, dear! My name is Ellie Paka, and I'm the librarian here. Are you looking to buy a house, or rent an apartment, or what?"

_Ack, small town nosiness at its finest! Ugh. I must be friendly for Jacob. OK. _"Lovely to meet you, Ellie. I'm a big reader, so you'll probably see me here a fair amount. My boyfriend's across the street meeting with one of the tribe Elders, and I'm trying to find us a house to buy."

"I think I might be able to help you more than the internet this time, dear!" Ellie answered. "One of my cousins just passed away, and his wife and children are moving back to her people - she wasn't Ute. They've been trying to sell their house, but they haven't had much luck yet. Maybe it would be a good fit for you?"

"I'm so sorry for your loss, what a heartbreak for his wife and children." I replied. I wanted to get away from the death, though, because if there was a wife and kids, there must be more than one bedroom!

"Thank you, dear. Unfortunately, these things happen."

"Can you tell me more about the house, please?" I said. "My boyfriend and I are starting our lives together, and we know we'll need a few bedrooms and some land soon. We'd rather buy a larger property and grow into it than outgrow a smaller property.

Ellie smiled. "This house might be perfect for you, then! It's a ranch, so it's all one level, but it has 4 bedrooms and a nice sized kitchen, dining, and family room area. What they call a great room, I think. There's at least 20 acres around it, too."

I goggled at her. "That **does** sound perfect! Do you know who we should contact about seeing it? And who the Realtor is that is handling the sale?"

"Oh, honey, you haven't lived in a really small town before, have you?" she asked.

"I guess not, but I thought where I lived before was small, it was larger than here."

"Well, let me right down the directions to the house, there's a key under the mat, so you can let yourselves in and check around. If you like it, then you just talk to one of the Elders over at the town hall, and they'll talk money and do the paperwork. That's it!"

"Oh, thank you, Ellie! This sounds too good to be true, but I've been due for some good luck! Since you seem to know a lot about the town, do you know if there's a hotel or B and B where we can stay before the paperwork's finalized?" I asked. I was glad I had come in the library - it was clear Ellie knew about everyone.

"Oh, you wouldn't need to do that! There's still some beds and stuff in the house, you can just stay there until everything's finalized. I'm guessing that your boyfriend is the one Parker called in from Washington state to help us out?" My eyes must have widened, because Ellie grinned. "We really don't get many newcomers. Two new men visiting the town elders in one day would be really unusual!"

If I had been human, I would have blushed furiously at this. "Oh, that's true. I just wasn't sure how many people knew about the 'troubles'. Jake's really good at helping people out, and we had wanted to move, so this was a wonderful opportunity."

"Our tribe is so indebted to you and your boyfriend for coming out here, we'd be happy to let you stay anywhere until you were able to find someplace permanent. I'd love it if you wanted to buy my cousin's house - it would really help out his family to have that income."

"We're happy to rent it from them until the closing if money's a problem for them." I said, feeling guilty for mooching off these nice people.

"It's alright dear. Go see the house, and you can work everything else out with the Elders later today. Oh! I see your young man coming out of the town hall, so you should probably go out there and meet him. I'm sure you both have a lot to talk about!"

"I can't thank you enough, Ellie! You're right, I should go out there. I'm sure I'll see you soon." I took the piece of paper where she had written directions to her cousin's house, and walked back out of the library with my unused MacBook.

"Hey Jake! I think I found us a house!" I called across the street. I got a big smile and a thumbs up in response.

We got into the car. "How did your meeting go?" I asked.

"There was a lot to talk about. I need some food, and you said something about a house?" Jake replied.

"Yeah. I've got directions. There are even beds and some furniture left there, and we're welcome to use them until we either buy the place or buy something else. It's a 4 bedroom ranch on over 20 acres. It looks like there's a general store over there, you could get some sandwich fixings, at least."

"Wow - that sounds perfect! OK, I'll get lunch for me, you guys stay here. We can talk about the stuff with the Elders once I've eaten something." Jacob walked out of the car and into the general store.

"I wonder if they are used to werewolf appetites yet?" I asked Edward with a smile.

"He can always pretend he's buying for 2. Though he seems to eat enough for 4 or 5..." Edward laughed quietly.

Since the car was stopped, Mystic bounded into the front seat, licking my face with excitement. "Yes, Mystic, I love you too. You need to go in the back seat, though. Stripes is at my feet, and I don't think the two of you would get along!" Even with vampire strength, it's hard to get a stubborn dog out of the front seat. I didn't want to break the seats on the Volvo by accident, either. I got her into the back seat just in time, Jacob got to the car with 3 big bags of groceries, which he stuffed into the trunk.

"Jake, that was 3 bags of groceries! How are you going to eat that much for lunch?" Edward asked. He must have been peeking out of the blanket.

"Well, there was some stuff that won't go bad right away. We'll have to see if there's electricity at the house before we run to a larger town and do a big shopping trip." Jacob said.

"You do remember that there is only one person in this trio who eats regular food, right?" I asked.

Jake smiled, and it was like the world lit up. "Yeah, I remember. But do **you** remember how much I eat?" As he pulled out of the parking lot to drive to the house, he tweaked my nose.

After driving for about 10 minutes, we found the house. It was painted a dull brown, but that was easily changed. There was a ton of land around - and most of it was wild. Mystic was thrilled to be let out of the car for a real run. Jake phased to run with her, while Edward and I went into the house to check it out - the key really was under the mat. Wow.

"This is gorgeous!" I said, as I walked in. There was a nice-sized kitchen on the right, and then a large great room, with several large windows and a sliding glass door to the back "yard". I had a feeling that the windows and sliding glass door faced west for the sunset. No one had tried to force a lawn or anything other than native plants, and it was beautiful. Incredibly different from Forks and Phoenix, but beautiful.

I walked through the great room on the right to a door, which led to a large 2 door garage. "Jake will love this garage. And look - there's the perfect spot for your piano!" There it was - a spot on an indoor wall, set in what looked to be a reading nook or music nook between the kitchen and garage. Across from the music nook there was another nook, which would be perfect for bookcases and a couple of reading chairs.

"That will be just right for your books. Now you have to let me buy you new copies!" Edward smiled, and kissed me sweetly before taking my hand.

"Are all the bedrooms on the other side of the house, then?" I wondered aloud, and we walked past the kitchen to find that couch and a couple chairs had been left behind in that area of the great room, along with an older TV.

"That'll be handy until we can get new stuff in." Edward said, and then we walked to the end of the house. There were five doors set into a U shape. The first one on the left appeared to have belonged to a young girl, as it was painted pink with a purple butterfly border. The basic bed frame and mattress was there, but the rest of the furniture had been moved.

"Um, not my room!" I exclaimed, but Edward just laughed at me. The second door on the left wall was a boy's room, blue walls with a car theme. "Now, this one is for Jake!" I smiled. Thankfully, there was a bed frame and mattress there, too.

"I think you're right." Edward said.

'The next door was a bathroom, medium sized with a nice shower/tub combo. I guessed from the duck shower curtain that it was likely the kids' bathroom. "I love duckies!" I squealed, laughing more when Edward found me a squeaky ducky that had been left behind. "Thank you!" I exclaimed, and kissed him on his nose.

"Let's see what the other two rooms are." Edward said. "You might well be staying in the pink butterfly room!"

"Noooooo!" I replied. "Wait, Jacob's the only one who needs a bedroom!"

"I was wondering when you'd realize that!" Edward said, laughing. "But it is nice to each have our own space."

"That's true. And wow, look at this room!" It had clearly been made for a teenage boy - lots of grays, with black paint below a chair-rail border of musical notes. There was a bed here, too. I knew it would soon be replaced with a black leather couch, though.

"Yep, I dibs this room!" Edward said, a real smile on his face.

"Then I think I get the master bedroom!" I said, and opened that door. It wasn't exactly the way I'd decorate, but it wasn't overwhelmingly girly like the little girl's room. Rather than paint, this room had wallpaper of small green vines with occasional red roses. It looked like there had been curtains, but those were gone. There was a queen size bed on a basic bed frame, and an en-suite bathroom. Sadly, no jacuzzi tub, but it looked like the room would be big enough to put one in.

"Yep, this one's all mine!" I exclaimed. "You boys can share the other bathroom, I get this one and the bedroom. The girly room can be for an office or guests. Or both. As the only girl, I should get special privileges." I smirked.

"You already do get special privileges." Edward retorted.

"Oh really? What privileges do I get?" I asked, mildly confused.

"You're the only one who gets these kisses." And with that, Edward started kissing me passionately enough that my knees went weak, and I almost fell over.

I moaned as his hands traveled up my back, then moving gently to touch my stomach. His hands were starting to travel upwards when the door slammed.

"Hey! This is great - where are you two?" Jake asked over Mystic's barking.

"We were dibsing rooms." I answered, quickly and quietly moving out of Edward's embrace with a reluctant look at him. He kissed the top of my head in understanding - it was hard to juggle two relationships at once!

"Oh, Bella, that's not fair! I bet you took the master suite." Jacob moaned.

"Yep! But look, there's a cool car room, too." I said, and his eyes perked up.

"I'm going to get our bags and Stripes." Edward said. "Then you should eat, and we can talk about the house and your meeting with the Elder."

"Sounds good." Jake replied. "I want to see this room that you've stuck me with."

"I'll show you." I said, and gently led him over to the bedrooms.

"So, we have here: SuperPink; Cars Galore; ducky bathroom; Music Guy; and Master bedroom for Bella so she doesn't have to share a bathroom with two guys." I said, summarizing.

"OK, I'll take Cars Galore. Edward's more the music guy, and I'm secure in my sexuality, but I don't need to prove it by sleeping in a room **that** girly!" Jake laughed. "Hey, is my new bed bouncy?" He pulled me down with him, and we bounced.

"Gentle! We could break it!" I admonished.

"Fine, gentle it is." And then he kissed me much more gently than usual. His hands caressing my face, and trailing down my hair. "Mmmm... I want to brush your hair later." He smiled, and just held me against him.

We could hear the thuds of bags coming in, so Jacob and I went into the Great Room to help Edward and talk more about our new life with the Ute tribe in Fort Duchesne, Utah.

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**A/N:** _Thanks for reading! Reviews make me so happy!_


	19. Settling Down

**Chapter 19 - Settling Down**

**Disclaimer: **_** I don't own Twilight, New Moon, or Eclipse. I just like having fun with the characters and world the wonderful Stephenie Meyer created.**_

_**A/N:**__**Clarification**__ - this story is having Bella date Jake AND Bella date Edward. She isn't kissing one in front of the other because she's nice, but they both know she's spending "quality time" with both of them. It's not cheating. I hate the idea of cheating on someone or adultery. HATE IT. this is different - google polyamory if you want more info. I couldn't live like this, but then I've never had two really hot guys both want me when I want both of them. :) _

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**Jacob POV:**

Once we had emptied the car into the new house, I made a bunch of sandwiches, and we sat on the floor, looking out at the broad expanse of land that would soon be ours. Bella, of course, sat between me and Edward, and I found myself needing to touch her occasionally, just to make sure she was there. I had accepted her decision to love us both, and I loved every moment I was with her, but I still felt a little insecure. Bella seemed to know this, and she'd touch me, too. I think she was doing the same with Edward, but I was trying not to notice.

"OK, Jacob. Now that you've eaten half the food in Fort Duchesne, can you tell us about the meeting you had with the Elder?" Edward asked me.

"Of course," I replied. "He's got about a half dozen teenage boys who suddenly phased into werewolves about a month and a half ago at the full moon. The Kapota have stories about the spirit warriors, but so many tribes have mixed together within Utah to become the Ute people, the Kapota legends aren't being told as often. The families freaked out and called Parker because he's one of the Tribe Elders, and also one of the keepers of the old legends. The boys have mostly been running around at night, and they don't understand **why** they are werewolves, so they aren't doing much that's useful - they're mostly scaring the cattle."

I paused for a breath and a drink, and saw that Edward and Bella were still watching me closely.

"How did they find out about the red-eyed vampire?" Edward asked.

"Parker was worried about there being a vampire nearby, because the legends tell about them in relation to the spirit warriors, so he told the boys about them. Well, after a couple weeks, the boys went out as a group and smelled something that they felt the instinct to track. It turned out to be a vampire. They didn't understand how to kill a vampire, so they just fought it, and when they had damaged it, they left. Unfortunately, they didn't succeed, and now there have been a few people missing in the area. This isn't like Seattle, so a few people missing is quite noticeable."

"I'll bet!" Bella said. "This place makes Forks look like Phoenix. So they want you to train the boys, and help them defeat the vampire?"

"Exactly. Plus, because I'm an Alpha, they want me to lead the group. They also want me to stay to help teach the legends to the next generation - they don't want to be caught off-guard again." I replied.

"When are you going to meet the boys?" asked Edward.

"Tomorrow morning. It's going to be a pretty intense time at first. Once I get them settled, though, I'd like to have Bella come and help me. I might even ask you to come, Edward, to talk about the treaty and how to recognize vegetarian vampires by eye-color."

"Thanks. I was going to ask you to do that, but it's even better that you suggested it. I'm happy to help. While you're gone, I can help Bella get the house bought and furnished, and all that stuff. You're going to be incredibly busy with the new pups, let us worry about everything here." Edward said.

"Thank you," I replied, honestly feeling very grateful. There was a twinge of jealousy there, too, though. I knew what I was doing was important, but it meant that Edward would have a lot more time with Bella than I would. I had known they would have the nighttime hours while I slept, but I hadn't thought about my pup training time. I would barely see her until she could come with me.

In my head, I knew that the only way for me to be with a happy Bella was if she was also with Edward. In my heart, though, I still wanted to have her all to myself.

Edward must have listened to my thoughts, because he said, "Why don't you and Bella go into town and make the arrangements for buying the house? I can set up the stuff we brought with us, and all that. You two won't get much time together for the next few weeks."

Bella blinked. I don't think she believed that Edward was being so agreeable about the whole dating-both-of-us situation. "Thanks, Edward. That does sound good."

"Thanks, man." I said to Edward, and took Bella's hand to walk with her to the car.

We had a great day together! It had been a long time since we had spent that much time alone together, and it was wonderful. We were known to the community as boyfriend and girlfriend, so we could hold hands and kiss without it looking odd. It felt wonderful.

We talked to Parker Sawock again, and Bella told him that she can phase too, and that she would be happy to help me teach the pups once they got settled with me. He looked very happily surprised, and became even happier when he heard we wanted to buy the house. We ended up paying a month's rent that day, and figured during the next month we'd sign papers and close on the house. That felt good, too - we weren't freeloading, we were paying our way. OK, so it was with Edward's money, but still. If we could share a girlfriend, we could share money. heh.

We drove out to the reservation, and got a sense of how big it was. La Push is small, and the U & O reservation is huge. We didn't meet anyone, but we had a wonderful walk through the area, seeing some of the natural beauty. As we walked, I could feel the tension ebb away. We sat down on a rock, and looked out at the sun setting. Even with the cloud cover that made it safe for Bella to be out with me, the bright colors of the sunset illuminated the beauty in the wilderness.

"This is lovely. I could sit here forever." Bella said, her head on my shoulder.

"I'm glad I'm not the only one thinking that!" I replied, smiling at her.

"I'm glad we got to do this today. The next couple weeks are going to be very intense for you, and I know we won't get days like this one for a while." Bella looked up at me, her red eyes covered in chocolate brown contacts. She was so beautiful, and the emotion carried through her eyes despite the contacts.

I leaned over and kissed her. It was so easy to get lost in that kiss. Right then, there was nothing I wanted to do in life other than kiss Bella. She wrapped her cool arms around my neck, playing with my hair. I had my hands warm against her skin, rubbing slow circles on her back. I wanted to do so much more, but not out in the open, and not before we talked about the two relationships.

Eventually, we broke away, and walked back to the car in a companionable silence. We drove home, only stopping for me to get some more food from the general store, now that we knew we had refrigeration. All too soon after eating, I had to go to sleep - it had been a rough few days, and I would be busy the next day. Sleep was hunting me down, and I needed to give up the fight.

**Edward POV:**

I have dealt with a lot in my life, but today was one of the hardest days. Seeing my girlfriend being identified (however accurately) as someone else's girlfriend. Hiding in a car. Listening to one of those _dogs_ talk about training more of them to kill vampires. OK, they are evil vampires, but still. Offering to help your mortal enemy isn't easy.

It's also not easy to willingly send your girlfriend out for the day with her other boyfriend. Yes, I know, it was the right thing to do. Bella will be very grateful that I suggested it, but I knew she'd suggest it if I didn't, so it wasn't as altruistic as it might have appeared. Jake would be gone most of the day, then sleeping most of the night for the next couple weeks, so I was going to get a lot of Bella's undivided attention. It was only fair to let Jacob have the time while he could.

My head knew that this compromise was what was best for Bella. My heart broke every time I thought of sharing her, though. I knew that if I hadn't left her, I would have her all to myself, but since I did leave her, she now had Jacob as well.

As I put away our belongings, I smiled at the stereotype of fundamentalist Mormons as a man with a few wives. The idea of one wife with two husbands wasn't as stereotypical, but maybe we could fit in after a while. For now, it made sense to keep quiet and under the radar.

Bella and Jacob came home after sunset, Bella bearing good news about the house, Jacob bearing more food. After Jake ate, he went to his room to sleep, and Bella sat on my lap on the couch.

"Thank you for today," she said, kissing me. I couldn't answer right away, I was enjoying the kiss too much.

"You're welcome. This is harder than I thought it would be, though." I finally replied. "I know we all agreed to this, but it's hard to share you."

"I know, love. But I feel almost like I'm two people - the werewolf me and the vampire me. Each one is in love with a different person, and since I cant tear myself in two, I couldn't be happy another way. I am so grateful that the two of you agreed to do this. I know it wasn't your first choice, but thank you for giving it a chance." Bella said, leaning her head against my chest.

"Bella, I would do anything for you. Anything. You're right - this isn't my first choice. But neither was Changing you. I want you to be happy - that's why I left, and that's why I am staying and won't leave you again."

Bella looked up into my eyes, and I felt like our souls had connected. I kissed her deeply, lost in her eyes, her scent, and everything that was her.

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**A/N:** _Thanks for reading! Reviews make me so happy!_


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